Some rules about Numbers in writing

The rule is:

If a number is 10 or greater, use numbers, and for zero to nine, write it out. 

Thus write:

We have just 15 minutes until then.


You've got five seconds left.

Exceptions:

Never start a sentence with a number. Thus, write:

Fifteen minutes have passed.

Not

15 minutes have passed.

Also, this is a matter of style and preference, but I prefer to write out all numbers and abbreviations (except Mrs. for which there is no commonly accepted spelling) in dialogue. Thus, I would write:

"We turned onto one hundred and forty-second street twenty-five minutes ago!"

(Notice, hyphens were used. For the numbers twenty-one to ninety-nine, use hyphens to join the tens' place to the ones'.)


"Good morning, class. My name is Mister Collins, and I'm going to be your Algebra teacher for the foreseeable future."

Comprehensive rules, according to Sarah of EssayForum.com (her source being the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association):

Use numbers (numerals) in these instances:

1. For all numbers 10 and above: "There were 17 students in class."
2. All numbers below 10 that are grouped in comparison to numbers 10 and above: "Ony 5 of 17 students passed the course."
3. When using numbers immediately before a unit of measure: "a 5-minute wait"
4. Numbers that represent statistical or mathematical functions or formulas: "a ratio of 12:1"
5. Numbers that represent time, dates, ages, sizes, scores, money, and points on a scale: "It happened 5 years ago"; "a roomful of 6-year-olds"; "$40."
6. Numbers that represent a place in a series: "week 7 of an 8-week diet"
7. In a list of four or more numbers: "We had 1, 2, 5, and 8 pieces, respectively"

Sources:

http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000125.htm

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/10-rules-for-writing-numbers-and-numerals/

http://www.essayforum.com/general-writing-questions-13/use-numerals-spell-out-words-694/

Formatting a Character's Thoughts

Treat a character's thoughts just dialogue, but without the quotes. Use italics in place of the quotes. In the case below, note that the character's thoughts are capitalized even though they don't seem to be the beginning of the sentence (the same is done when a dialogue attribution comes before the actual dialogue). Also note that "she" is not italicized, because italics are also used for emphasis, to make a word stand out, and in order to achieve the same effect in a character's thoughts, the writer removes the italics from the emphasized word.

She thought, What's she doing here? (Hambly 131) 

NOT

She thought, what's she doing here?

Source

Hambly, Barbara. Star Wars: Children of the Jedi. NY, NY:
    Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing, 1996. Print.

Subject-verb agreement

For words that indicate a partial amount—some, all, none, etc.—if the noun is plural, use a plural verb, and if the noun is singular use a singular verb.

Examples:

None of the chickens are good.
None of this chicken is good.

Some of the pies are good.
Some pie is good, some pie is not.

All of us are going.
All of this pie is good.

In each case the plurality of the italicized noun is matched by the verb.

Disclaimer: advice on this (especially the sometimes plural use of "none") varies, see my source for details.

Source

Ellipses, and the proper format

In the final revisions of my first book, one of my readers/editors thought I'd incorrectly formatted ellipses, and I had to check the current rules, so here's what I found:

First of all, what are they?

Ellipses are the ". . ." you often see in writing which indicate material was omitted from a quote, or in creative writing, sometimes they are simply used for a long pause.

Formatting:

-Put a space on either side and one between each dot
e.g. He was going to . . . do something, but what?

-If the Ellipses occur at the end of a sentence, include the period and add the ellipses at the end.
e.g. That's what I was going to do. . . .

-With exclamation points and question marks:
"It was going to get me . . . !"
"He didn't . . . ?"

Remember the space between the last dot and the question/exclamation mark.

Source

When do you capitalize mom, dad, mother, and father?

Generally, if you can replace the words mom, dad, mother, and father with the person's name in the sentence, you should capitalize them.

For example:

"What did you say, Mom?"

He wasn't going to tell Mom.

"Of course, Dad."

"It's behind the bed--Dad's bed."

By contrast:

My mother lied.

My father was drunk.

His mom wasn't going to give him another cookie, no matter how much he begged.

Note: the same rule applies for titles (Doc, Sergeant, etc.), and other familial relations (Grandma, Grandpa, etc.).

When to Use Auxiliary Verbs: Sank or Sunk? Sang or Sung? Drank or Drunk?

The boat has sunk.
The boat sank.

He has drunk too much.
He drank too much.

She has sung that song many times before.
She sang very well.

All of these sentence pairs are grammatically correct, but switch the words in italics and the sentences are no longer correct. Sunk, drunk, and sung are all examples of past participles which require an auxiliary verb (such as has, had, was, etc.)

Blond or Blonde?

According to my source:

The words blond and blonde come from the French and follow somewhat the French pattern. Blond (without the e) is used to describe males, mixed gender, or uncertain gender. Blonde refers to women or female gender.

In modern use, blond is sometimes used for female as well as male, but blonde is preferred for female.

In my opinion, since English doesn't require different adjectives for male and female, it's better just to use "blond" without the e for both male and female.

Source