* Instead, write:

To make finger-licking cookies we need:

* 2 tbs cinnamon * 0.5 kg sugar * 1 cup flour * 4 eggs * a well-heated oven * kneaded dough

Or just list all ingredients and after that describe the cooking process: "Heat the oven well. Knead the dough."

6. Money

Write the names of currencies in lower case, adding two digits after the symbol if it isn’t round:

* 300.75 pounds * 50 dollars

Hold down Ctrl+Alt+E to insert the euro symbol in Word. If you mention sums of million and billion throughout the text, it is better to abbreviate them, without leaving a space:

* $34 billion – $34bn

7. Numbers

Basically numbers from one to nine are written in words, as well as any numbers put at the beginning of a sentence and approximate ones. Don’t forget about the comma in numbers from 1,000 upwards:

* Three Men in a Boat was published in 1889. * Today the company’s turnover equals to $500,000 yearly. * Usually we eat little for dessert – about four or five chocolate bars and coffee with cream.

8. Time

If you use the 12-hour clock, the hour and minutes are separated by a full stop. As ‘am’ and ‘pm’ refer to ‘before noon’ and ‘afternoon’, it is useless to write ‘12am’. Have the 24-hour clock? Separate the hours and minutes by a colon:

* 22:45 * 7am * 12midnight, or just midnight * between 8am and 14pm.

9. Titles and Honors

When a widely respected person is mentioned for the first time, you should give his/her title in full. Starting from the second time in text, you can write only a shortened version:

* His Majesty King Lear – The King

10. Weight and Measures

Make sure you chose the proper – upper or lower – case:

* MHz (megahertz) * MB (megabyte) * km (kilometer)

Don’t overuse imperial measurements, giving more preference to standardized metric or at least giving the equivalent in brackets:

* 22kg (48.502 pounds)

Summing up all the above… You know, sometimes the difference between literacy and tedium is very subtle, so whatever you have just read in this guideline, try to keep it within your own style.

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