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I don't know the Associated Press' rationale, but it's been in their style
guide for at least 30 years (I still have my copy from my undergraduate
days). I'm trying to dredge up the memories from those classes, and I
vaguely recall that it had to do with both clarity in how it displayed in
typical newspaper columns and saving lead when typesetting the stories....
then again, it was 30 years ago so I could be totally misremembering it. It
was their way to ensure consistency, whether or not it made any sense from a
cognition perspective.
Connie Giordano
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+connie=therightwordz -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+connie=therightwordz -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Deborah Hemstreet
Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 3:33 PM
To: praneeta p
Cc: .TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: one vs 1
Now there IS the question. What IS the rationale behind the rule?
Golly, you'd think I'd have asked that question... right now I'm documenting
processes and procedures where everything is WHY do you do this that way and
not this way, and I don't know WHY we spell out any number under 10, except,
that is the rule.
Well I for 1 think it's time 2 change <grin>.
Deborah
On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 12:01 PM, praneeta p
<praneeta_paradkar -at- yahoo -dot- com>wrote:
> The only problem in not spelling out numbers 0 to 9 could be that you run
> the risk of sounding not-so-formal.
>
> And if that's the only rationale, I think there is no harm in breaking the
> rule.
>
> Does anyone have a different explanation for the rationale behind this
> rule?
>
> Would like to hear.
>
>
> --- On *Tue, 29/9/09, Deborah Hemstreet <dvora -at- tech-challenged -dot- com>*wrote:
>
>
> From: Deborah Hemstreet <dvora -at- tech-challenged -dot- com>
> Subject: one vs 1
> To: ".TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
> Date: Tuesday, 29 September, 2009, 8:32 PM
>
> Hi All,
>
> I've written a brochure for a company to distribute to their employees.
>
> I am in somewhat of a dilemma: Corrections have been returned and they
> would
> like all numbers to be printed as numbers (1 not one).
> However, the RULES of writing say to spell out all numbers less than 10.
>
> When writing a statement such as: "There is a one week waiting period
> (seven
> consecutive calendar days)"... I have to be honest, I believe the target
> audience will absorb the information better as: "There is a 1 week
waiting
> period (7 consecutive calendar days)"...
>
> What do you think?
>
> --
> Deborah
>http://www.tech-challenged.com
>
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@tech-challenged.com>
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--
Deborah Hemstreet
Technical and Medical Writer http://www.tech-challenged.com
dvora -at- tech-challenged -dot- com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
---
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Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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