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Numbers at the Beginning of a Sentence 296 Views
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Transcript
- 00:07
Numbers at the beginning of sentences, a la Shmoop.
- 00:11
Two hundred million five hundred and twenty-three thousand people in the United States have
- 00:15
seen the original Star Wars.
- 00:17
There are two things you should know about that number. One: We made it up.
- 00:23
Two: You should do whatever you have to, including allowing yourself to be frozen in carbonite
Full Transcript
- 00:27
and turned into wall art...
- 00:28
...to avoid starting a sentence with a number. Here's why. Say the number at the beginning
- 00:34
of the sentence is small, like “twelve”.
- 00:36
“Twelve Stormtroopers went out for pizza.” That's easy for the reader to process, right?
- 00:41
However, the number “seven hundred and twenty thousand eight hundred and two”, when written
- 00:47
out, is quite long.
- 00:48
While your reader is probably willing to put up with a sentence like, “Twelve Ewoks got
- 00:52
smooshed by a Walker”...
- 00:53
...no one wants to read, “Seven hundred and twenty thousand eight hundred and two
- 00:57
Ewoks reside on Endor.” If you are bound and determined to mention
- 01:01
those seven hundred and twenty thousand eight hundred and two Ewoks...
- 01:04
...then you should consider changing your sentence to something more manageable for
- 01:07
the reader, like, “There are 720,802 Ewoks on Endor.”
- 01:13
See, when you put a number anywhere in a sentence other than at its beginning...
- 01:17
...you can actually use numbers...
- 01:19
...instead of words. Here's the grammar rule one more time, in
- 01:22
case you're confused.
- 01:23
While Darth Vader is unlikely to pursue you across the galaxy for using a number like
- 01:28
“seven billion nine hundred and forty-two million three hundred and twelve thousand”
- 01:32
at the beginning of a sentence...
- 01:33
...your reader may not be quite so forgiving.
- 01:37
So, avoid starting a sentence with a number. Please. Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re our only
- 02:02
hope…
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