Q. There is no agreement in our office about numbers. When do you write them in full and when do you write them as numbers?

A.The general rule is: write out numbers up to and including ten in full and use numerals for all numbers 11 and over. Stick to this rule even when numbers below and above 11 appear in one sentence. Example: While some assets were replaced four years ago, much of our network was built 30 to 40 years ago.

But like all rules, there are exceptions. Choose words when writing:
•   ordinal numbers first, second, third up to tenth (The fourth truck arrived on time.)
•   numbers that start a sentence. (Ninety-nine employees retired last year.)
•   non-decimal fractions below one. Remember, they need to be hyphenated. (Australia is about three-quarters the size of Europe.)
•   percentages less than 11. And use the word rather than the symbol for percent when you’re writing a number of ten and under. (Only three percent of the members were in favour of the proposal.)

Q. My boss says I drive her mad with my “wandering apostrophes”. I get especially confused between its or it’s. Do you have some way to help me remember the correct usage?

A. It’s is a contraction of it is or it has.  (Holiday traffic is so heavy it’s backing up onto the highway. It’s been a trying time for all concerned.) This is the only time an apostrophe is used in the letters its.  If you need to, test yourself with sentences like this one: The campaign is losing its momentum. Because we aren’t saying the campaign is losing it is momentum, its doesn’t take the apostrophe for omission.

Other uses:
•   The apostrophe is used to show when nouns are possessive. To form the possessive of a singular common noun not ending in s, add an apostrophe and an s.
Example: The organisation’s manual.

•   To form the possessive of a singular common noun ending in s, add an apostrophe and an s.
Example: The business’s obligations.
Note: Increasingly, modern usage is to drop the second s.

•   When a plural common noun ends in s, add an apostrophe only.
Example: The retailers’ responsibilities.

•   When a proper noun has two syllables and ends in s, add an apostrophe and an s. When the proper noun has one syllable and ends in s, it takes just the apostrophe.
Example: Carruthers’s boss. Jones’ boss.
Note: Increasingly, modern usage is to drop the second s.

•   Apostrophes are also used to show the omission of a letter in a word. The shortened form that results when do not becomes don’t is called a contraction.
Example: Don’t forget to include an information kit.
Example: You mustn’t forget the rule.

•   Single numbers, groups of numbers and groups of letters do not require an apostrophe.
Example: The company sponsored all the teams including the under-6s.
Example: The plant was commissioned in the 1960s.
Example: Trade in RECs should reveal an efficient price.

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Q. Where I am using a colon in a sentence to introduce a question, should that question begin with a capital letter?

A.The Commonwealth of Australia’s Style manual sheds useful light on this one. When you are posing just one question in your sentence, they say, you need not use a capital letter. For example, I have always wanted to know: do you feel nervous before you give a speech? However when you have more than one complete question preceding a colon, they all take capitals, like this, Tell me how you overcome your anxiety: Do you take deep breaths? Do you refer to notes? Do you use humour in your speech? And that’s not all. If your multiple questions are incomplete sentences, you need use no capitals. How are you generally received: with loud applause? friendly smiles? general interest?

Q. I was reading advice science fiction writer Jeffrey A Carver gave on his website to aspiring writers. One of his suggestions is to “practice, practice, practice writing”. This tip threw me, not because of its message – I’m sure it’s a sound suggestion. But I’ve always understood that we use practise for the verb and practice for the noun. Should he not have written: “practise, practise, practise writing”?

A. If Jeffrey A Carver didn’t hail from Cleveland Ohio he’d probably agree with you. As Australians, we should all be writing the words as you do: I practise singing scales daily (verb) and I attended choir practice today (noun). In the US, practice is usually (but, confusingly, not always) used for both the noun and verb forms of the word. The fact that both options sound the same makes the waters murkier. If ever you battle to remember which version of practice/practise to use, think about advice and advise. The same rules apply but pronunciation helps separate this noun from the verb.

Q. I have always written “with regards to” meaning “concerning” with an “s”. I often receive written material that has this phrase written in the singular. Which is right?

A. I’m afraid it’s time to change. The correct form is the singular: “with regard to.” It’s a common mistake and is all the more confusing because “as regards” does indeed take an “s.” You can avoid the tangle entirely by replacing “with regard to” with “about.” This simple alternative is particularly useful where the phrase is embedded in your sentence.

Q. I’m writing a memo to everyone in our company and want to include an alternative person for readers to contact if I’m not available. I would like to be the first person they try to reach, but is it grammatically correct to write: “Contact me or Joe Bloggs for more information”?

A. It’s fine to write your sentence this way. It’s when you use “and” instead of “or” that you need to place “me” or “I” last.

Q. Listening to the lyrics of my daughter’s music got me wondering, what’s the difference between some time, sometime, some times and sometimes?

A. When someone invites you to dinner at a distant time in the future they’re inviting you to come over “sometime.” The one-word, singular version means “an unspecified time in the future.” “Sometimes” works in sentences like this: “I get vague dinner invitations sometimes.” This plural option means “on occasion.” The two-word, singular noun phrase “some time” implies a measure of time. It’s used like this: “Please give me some time in your schedule to follow up our dinner date.” The two-word, plural version is mercifully easy to get right. It means simply “some occasions” like this: “Some times are more enjoyable than others.” Like catching up around a dinner table, for example.

Q. Can I get away with never writing whom again?

A. Almost. Labelled as stilted and outdated, whom is often ousted in favour of the more universally applicable who. Both terms are pronouns with who the subject form and whom the object form. Who is the subject in a sentence like Who knows the answer? On the other hand I don’t know to whom I can go for help with this query goes the whom-route as whom is the object of the preposition to.

Given this rule, we should be writing sentences like Whom are you writing to? but it’s rare nowadays for sentences to begin with whom. It reads just a little too pompously for most of us, even in formal documents. Here’s a useful rule of thumb to remember when debating over beginning a question with who or whom. If your answer to the question is him or her, whom is correct.  If it’s he or she, who will most certainly do.

Q. Is it all right to write alright?

A. Not unless you intend writing very informally.  Whether you’re using all right as an adverb or adjective you should be writing both words out in full.  There are a couple of reasons why we come unstuck with this one. Although and almost look like alright and the al component sounds the same in all three words. We may also feel the need to distinguish alright meaning “adequate” or “satisfactory” from all right meaning “correct”.  But really, no differentiation is needed – all right is the way to go in both cases.

Q. When do you use in to instead of into?

A. We use the two-word version when each word plays an individual role in a sentence. When the parts of this twosome stand alone, in is an adverb that relates to the verb that went before and to is part of an infinitive verb that follows.  Here’s an example: Team members streamed in to support their colleague. In sentences like these to implies in order to. As one word, into is a preposition.  Frequently it answers the question where? Like this: We filed into the auditorium to hear him speak.