Originally posted by LabRat:
As I understand it, Saskia, journalistic grammar has its own set of rules, many of which differ from general grammar.
At least that's what I was told at some point...sometime...
LabRat (who is now trying to remember who it was who told her, but coming up blank... <g> Where's Annie? She'll know. 
) Here I am. <G>
The vast majority of American newspapers adhere to AP Style. The Associated Press publishes a stylebook annually covering topics just like this. In addition to the AP stylebook, every newspaper has their own stylebook with local nuances in it. For example the Raleigh News and Observers stylebook includes information on what exactly makes up "research triangle park" and the official name of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. There are a few papers that DON'T use AP Style and choose to create their own comprehensive stylebook instead. The only paper I can think of off the top of my head that does this is The New York Times. That said, the AP stylebook is basically the bible of American journalism.
According to AP style, numbers 1-9 should be spelled out and number 10 and above should be numerals. HOWEVER, there are lots of exceptions. Ages are always numerals. The first word of the sentence is always spelled out, even if it is a number under ten. Common expressions are always spelled out. (ie "Thanks a million.") Decimals are always numerals. Fractions are always spelled out. Addresses and Dates are always numerals. The list goes on and on.
However, these are the rules for journalism, not fiction writing. There is a big difference. The reason this rule was made was partially for clarity, but more to save space. Saving space is the reason for nearly every major difference between AP style and common English grammar rules. For example, in journalism there is only one space after a period, not two. Because space is money in journalism, everything possible is done to cram as much content as possible into the smallest space. When writing fiction, our goal is not to squeeze in as many words as possible into a tiny column. So we are not bound by these rules. I think it makes perfect sense to spell out all numbers except for very large numbers that could be confusing.
Annie
