numbers - How to write dollar amounts in a narrative


What's the best way to write dollar amounts in a narrative (such as a novel), particularly if the amounts are large and/or fractional?


I would use this:



"The national debt just hit 14.6 trillion dollars," said Jack, "yet you complain about my $2 million fee and $5,000 airline tickets?"



Are there better ways to write this? Specifically:



  • What is a rule of thumb for spelling out amounts vs. keeping is as a number?

  • If I spell out dollars once, do I need to keep spelling it out within the same context?



Answer



In fictional dialogue I prefer to spell things out in words. It's not just a matter of getting the amounts across, but of getting across the language that the character uses. And getting specific about the currency doesn't matter in the least -- one can assume that the character(s) being spoken to are familiar with the system the speaker is using.


In this case, if your character is saying "fourteen point six trillion dollars", then those are the words that ought to appear on the page. I would also use "two million dollar fee" and "five thousand dollar airline tickets". (I might phrase that last more like "and a lousy five grand for airline tickets" just to spice things up a bit.)


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