b. Acronyms.
When using an unfamiliar abbreviation or acronym which
will be pronounced as a word, be sure to spell it out in the first usage.
Examples: "The US Army Signal Center and Fort Gordon, commonly
called USASC&FG...or the Chief of Information, known as
CHINFO..."
c. Numbers.
Numbers present their own special problems to the
scriptwriter for the sake of clarity. First of all, any number that begins
a sentence is always written out.
(1) One to nine - Write out the numbers from one to nine: Exceptions
-- sports scores, time (hours and minutes), dates, telephone numbers, and
license numbers.
(2) From 10 to 999 - Use numerals for these figures.
(3) From thousand, million, billion - write out these figures.
Example: 15 hundred, six thousand; 13 thousand, 500; and seven billion, 300
million.
(4) Conversational numbers - Make numbers conversational.
Round out
figures unless the exact figure is essential to your program.
(5) Dates - Write dates as October 1st...2nd, 3rd, 4th and 31st, and
use four-digit numerals for years such as 1978 or 1892.
d. More examples of numbers:
WRITE
DON'T WRITE
(1) Money:
10 thousand dollars
,000.00
(2) Fractions:
two-thirds
2/3's
five-tenths
0.5
one & seven-eighths
1 7/8's
(3) Percentages:
six percent
6%
onetenth of
one percent
.1%
(4) Telephone Numbers:
6862377
six-eight-six-, etc.
(5) Addresses:
953 East 42d Street
953 E. 42 St
(6) Ages:
12-year old Mary Smith
Mary Smith, 12
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