How to Write and Punctuate Measurements Correctly

How to Write and Punctuate Measurements Correctly

(NOTE: This is #1 MOST POPULAR POST on my website TCC6.com)

How to spell out measurements correctly is a hot topic for technical editors and I suspect will remain so for eternity.

Ultimately, there is no absolutely correct and absolutely-wrong way of writing anything. I’ve seen so many different writing guidelines and style books recommending so many different principles that I cannot in all good conscience be an absolutist in this matter.

Yet I also have to admit that there do exist time-honored ways of spelling and punctuation widely used by most technical communicators.

Here is my take on some of them:

No period after abbreviations, except one

Only “in” for inch takes a period afterward, in order to differentiate it from the preposition “in.” Others don’t.

Incorrect

1 cm.

1 in

1 lb.

Correct

1 cm

1 in.

1 lb

Non-breaking space in between a number and the measurement unit

Why?

If your number ends up at the end of a line, the measurement will not appear all alone at the beginning of the next line. It makes sense to keep a number and its unit together, at all times. Thus, the non-breaking space.

To insert a non-breaking space in MS Word (Windows PC), press Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar. On a Mac, press Option+Spacebar.

Leave one space between a number and its unit and do not italicize the unit abbreviation. ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Incorrect

1cm

1?mm

1lb

Correct

1 cm

1 mm

1 lb

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