names—On first reference, use first name and middle initial if possible; on subsequent reference, use surname only: Michael W. Jones, professor of mathematics, and Maria P. Wallace, associate professor of computer science, won awards for their research. Jones and Wallace have worked together on several projects during the past five years.
Native American (no hyphen)
newspapers, names of—Set the names of newspapers in italics. The article the is set in roman type and, unless it begins a sentence, is lowercased: I read it in the New York Times. I'm running an ad in the Buffalo News. (See titles, composition.)
New York City; city of New York
New York State; state of New York
New York State Education Department (but U.S. Department of Education)
nicknames—Set in quotation marks after middle name or initial and before last name: John Q. "Joe" Public.
non- (prefix)—Generally closed, no hyphen: noncredit, nonprofit, nontraditional, nonviolent, nonnuclear, nonnative, nonemployee. Hyphenate with a proper noun or a compound term: non-English-speaking immigrants, non-degree-seeking students. (See prefixes and suffixes.)
noon—Use noon, not 12:00 noon or 12:00 p.m. (See midnight.)
North Buffalo—(See directions and regions.)
numbers—In general, spell out numbers zero through nine in running text; use figures for numbers 10 and up. Ordinals follow the same rule: first, ninth, 27th, 110th. Use commas with four or more figures in a sequence: 1,467; 12,567. Exceptions: page numbers, addresses, standardized test scores (e.g., SAT, GRE), and years with four or fewer digits. (See years.)
figures or words?
Use words for:
- Cardinal numbers zero through nine. (Use figures for 10 and above.)
- Ordinals first through ninth. (Use figures for 10th and above.)
- Centuries: the twentieth century, the fifth century. (See centuries.)
- Fractions—use hyphens: one-fifth. (See fractions.)
- A number that begins a sentence; the only exception is a year:
Right: Fifteen people died when a tour bus collided with a tractor trailer.
Wrong: 15 people died when a tour bus collided with a tractor trailer.
Acceptable: 1978 was a great year for film.
When spelling large numbers, use a hyphen to connect a word ending in y to another word: eighty-seven, ninety-nine, one hundred seventy-two.
Use figures for:
- Ages of people and animals—Hyphenate adjectival and noun forms: 3-year-old boy, 10-month-old baby, 13-year-olds, 75 years old.
- Addresses: 1313 Mockingbird Lane, 3 Rolling Hills Court.
- Cardinal numbers 10 and above. (Spell out numbers zero through nine.)
- Measure, units of: 3 miles, 55 mph, 7 hours, 50 lb, 35 mm., 6 inches (See measure, units of.)
- Ordinals 10th and above. (Spell out ordinals first through ninth.)
- Credits and credit hours: 3 credit hours, 6 credits, 3-credit course.
- Currency (American)—See currency.
- Decimal fractions—See decimal fractions.
- Dimensions—Use figures and spell out inches, feet, yards, etc. to indicate height, length, depth, and width. Hyphenate adjectival forms before nouns: He is 5 feet 6 inches tall, the 5-foot-6-inch man, the 9-by-12 rug, the storm left 5 inches of snow.
- Numbers in a series—Use a figure with no., not the symbol (#): no. 6, no. 15. Capitalize as the abbreviation for number with a figure adjectivally to indicate position or rank: No. 1 problem, No. 3 choice. Do not use in the names of public schools: School 32, School 17.
- Parts of a book, periodical, or manuscript: volume 3, chapter 6, page 12, plate 7, figures 23–29. (See books, parts of.)
- Parts of poems or plays—Lowercase and use figures: canto 2, stanza 4, act 3, scene 5.
- Percentages—Use the word percent, not the symbol (%), unless in tables or charts. Use decimals, not fractions: 4.5 percent. For amounts less than 1 percent, precede the decimal with a zero: 0.8 percent.
- Ratios: the ratio was 2-to-1, a ratio of 2-to-1, a 2-1 ratio. (See ratios.)
- Sizes: a size 9 dress, size 40 long.
- Time: 2:00 a.m., 11:17 p.m.
- Years: 1945, 1880, 1977. (Note: Years with five or more digits use commas: "Radiocarbon dating indicates that the campsite was in use by about 13,500 B.P."[16]) (See years.)
Also use figures with symbols: 3", 36°, 9'.
(16) Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition (1993), 8.41
