From: mdhangton@gmail.com   
      
   On Thursday, May 15, 2014 9:56:58 PM UTC-4, J.Pascal wrote:   
   > On Thursday, May 15, 2014 4:18:56 PM UTC-6, William Vetter wrote:   
   >   
   > > Twenty-five years ago, I defended a chemistry PhD thesis.   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > In the experimental section, many chemical syntheses were   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > described, and often the sentences began with a numerical   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > quantity.  A typical example would be:   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > 10.00g sodium was added to a 250mL round bottomed flask.   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > One of the committee members told me that no sentence can   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > begin with a number, meaning no sentence can begin with   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > numerical digits.  He crossed out the beginnings of all   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > such lines in my thesis manuscript, which was maybe a fifth   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > of the sentences in the whole book.  Of course, I wanted   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > him to sign the thesis so I could finish, so I changed all   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > of them to one of the forms:   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > Ten grams of sodium were added to a 250ml round bottomed   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > flask.   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > or   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > Sodium (10.00g) was added to a 250ml round bottomed flask.   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > or   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > To a 250ml round bottomed flask was added 10.00g sodium.   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > Which made him happy.   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > I have not been able to find this rule in any English   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > Composition text or style guide ever.  Not relating to any   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > type of writing, technical or fiction.  (Sorry in advance   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > if I am completely wrong and it is stated in every rule   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > book.)   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > There are certain situations in fiction where one might   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > want to begin a sentence with the Arabic numerals:   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > "100" was lithographed into the green scrollwork at all   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > four corners of each stock certificate.   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > >   
   >   
   > > Is this acceptable?   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > http://expertedge.aje.com/2013/01/08/editing-tip-of-the-week-t   
   ps-for-using-numbers/   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > I googled: how are numbers written in scientific publications   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > Even the link I have there says that there are situations where it makes no   
   sense not to use a numeric.   
   >   
   in   
   Fifteen samples were collected.   
   fifteen is a counting number, so that is a different case.   
   in   
   10.00g sodium was added...   
   it is an amount with significant figures, that implies a precision (perhaps a   
   molar ratio in the chemical reaction).   
   in the pre-1920 stock certificate, 100 is the denomination they were printed   
   in.   
   in   
   .22 calibre   
   it is not a quantity, it is a gauge.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)