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up vote 3 down vote favorite

How do we translate 1210 into words:

1) one thousand, two hundred, and ten

2) one thousand, two hundred and ten

or without the commas

3) one thousand two hundred and ten

4) one thousand two hundred, and ten ?

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Related: Rule for adding “and” or hyphens between numbers that are spelled out fully in text. (It could be a dupe, but this question doesn't treat about "thousands" so I think it's just related. Still useful.) – Alenanno Jul 8 '11 at 15:17
See also the possible dupe: Reading out numbers in English. – Mitch Jul 8 '11 at 16:09
I think it's good to just write it how you say it. Because it is quite regionally variant, your way is as good as any. Just make sure to put commas in where you would pause if you said it in a considered manner. – Vincent McNabb Jul 8 '11 at 23:03

3 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

In the UK, we always put the "and" in after the hundreds in plain numbers. Commas appear to be put after every "power of 1000" term ("thousand", "million", "billion" and so on); I'm not sure whether that's a requirement or just a good idea. However, not even the most knee-jerk believer in Oxford Commas would put a comma after the hundreds. So it is:

One thousand, two hundred and ten.

In the US, they seem to always leave the "and" out, but use commas in the same way:

One thousand, two hundred ten.

There is another alternative, though. With a number like this between one and two thousand, in the UK at least we might still talk about it hundreds:

Twelve hundred and ten.

This is very much dependent on context and personal preference, but it does happen so you shouldn't be surprised by it.

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+1 -- the use of and after the hundreds is a regional thing. In Canada, the use of and is commoner than the and-less American variant (though that's likely to change in a generation or two due to cultural influences from our neighbour). – bye Jul 8 '11 at 16:30
I was taught the "and"-less American style in elementary school, and later on in my education I was told that it came from finance; when writing a check, the only "and" in the amount as spelled out should come between the whole dollar number and the fractional cent value: "One thousand two hundred ten and no/100". This is mainly to prevent a forger from adding more dollars to a big round number; if "and" is seen in the middle of such a number, it is suspect. Also, the word "Dollars" is usually preprinted at the end of the line and thus can't be used to differentiate between dollars and cents. – KeithS Jul 8 '11 at 16:36
@KeithS: Wouldn't it be suspicious to see anything after "two hundred (and) ten" in either case? I suppose "thousand" could come after that, but that's not a big concern with my bank balance :) In the UK the convention is to use "only" to avoid additions at the end: "two hundred pounds only". – psmears Jul 8 '11 at 17:06
1  
Good answer, though outside the scope of the question its possibly worth mentioning the and will crop up again when we reach 101,000 (one hundred and one thousand). Its used every time we have more than a hundred of a major unit, i.e. 111,222,333 (one hundred and eleven million, two hundred and twenty two thousand, three hundred and thirty three) – Robb Jul 13 '11 at 10:55
up vote 5 down vote

It depends on where you live. I live in the US, and the following is what I'm used to:

One thousand, two hundred ten

This is the only way I've heard to be correct. There isn't an "and" between "two hundred" and "ten", when you are writing, and usually commas come after "thousand", "million", "billion", etc; never after "hundred".

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-1 According to you. – KitFox♦ Jul 8 '11 at 15:14
@Kit: Sorry - that did sound large-headed. How's my edit? – Daniel δ Jul 8 '11 at 15:16
@drm65, look at the question above that I linked. There it says that in UK they use "and" and never omit it. – Alenanno Jul 8 '11 at 15:18
OK, I reversed my downvote, but unless you've got a style guide to cite, I'm afraid that's as far as I'm willing to go. – KitFox♦ Jul 8 '11 at 15:21
1  
Most US style guides (AP, NYT, CMoS) say nix on the "and" in such constructions. However, in spoken English, the "and" seems quite natural. Viz: "Two Thousand and One, a Space Odyssey" is how I've always heard it. – The Raven Jul 8 '11 at 15:23
up vote 3 down vote

"One thousand, two hundred ten". The use of "and" in a number without a decimal can be confusing, especially in the context of money: does "One thousand, two hundred and ten" mean $1210 or $1200.10? Accountants have lost their jobs over smaller differences.

The comma can also be dropped in situations where it too may be confusing; in a list of numbers, for example. "One thousand two hundred ten" is perfectly unambiguous and punctuationally acceptable.

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Is punctuationally really a word? I'm a bit skeptical. :-) – KitFox♦ Jul 8 '11 at 15:23
The thought behind the word was apparently communicated, so whether it's in the OED or not it did its job :-) – KeithS Jul 8 '11 at 16:03
1  
We get by just fine in the UK always using "and" in numbers, and no such confusion results. And indeed the ambiguity is still there even without the "and" :-) – psmears Jul 8 '11 at 17:12
@Kit you shouldn't be. download Google Dictionary plugin. all it takes is a double click, i get "No definition" – Pacerier Jul 29 '11 at 16:57

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