one-fiftieth OR 1/50?

Hannah · Feb 11, 2006

Thank you for this forum!

Ok, now that I've gotten that out of the way. I've put some figures into my news feature article and my husband and I are going back and forth, as to what it is. :flag:

In the article, is it grammatically correct to write "one-fiftieth" or "1/50" as a fraction?

I'm stumped. :Shrug:

reph · Feb 11, 2006

That's a question of style, not grammar; both forms are grammatically correct. Treat numbers as the style book you're using says to.

JennaGlatzer · Feb 11, 2006

Right. Hannah, is this an assigned article? If so, the newspaper probably has a particular style book it uses (AP Stylebook and Chicago Manual of Style are the most popular two). You can ask them which guide they use (they'll be impressed that you care

), but I'm pretty certain that both AP and Chicago say that fractions should be spelled out and hyphenated.

Hannah · Feb 11, 2006

Yes, it's an assigned article (from the local paper), but afterwards, I'm gonna try to sell it to a national audience.

My editor didn't tell me what their style was, but my professor told me to use AP when in doubt. (I got a stylebook around here somewhere).

Thanks

dragonjax · Feb 11, 2006

I think you're very safe using AP for newspaper articles and CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE for books.

one-fiftieth OR 1/50?

Hannah

reph

Fig of authority

JennaGlatzer

wishes you happiness

Hannah

dragonjax

I write stuff and break boards.