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  1. SethG

    SethG Member

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    a $10-$20 per day fee

    Discussion in 'Word Mechanics' started by SethG, Jun 7, 2016.

    Would these be correct, minus hyphens in modifiers? I think all these look great as presented... no excess clutter... no recasts, please, for these commonly uttered phrases.

    an $80-$90 million a year industry

    a $10-$20 per day fee

    an $11 a barrel price

    a 25-30% a year increase

    a 10% a year increase

    a 20% per year reduction

    Thank you ..
     
  2. DueNorth

    DueNorth Senior Member

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    I am no expert, but here is how I would write these:
    An $80-90 million industry, or: an eighty to ninety million dollar industry (probably the latter in an informal piece)

    a $10-20 per day fee

    an $11 per barrel increase

    a 25-30% per year increase

    a 10% per year increase

    a 20% per year reduction
     
    Last edited: Jun 7, 2016
  3. SethG

    SethG Member

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    Just curious... why would you not add a $ sign before 20?

    a $10-20 per day fee
     
  4. SethG

    SethG Member

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    Following that guidance we could do this too, I think... the first $ sign is sufficient for both figures?

    an $80-90 million a year industry
    a $1-5 per day fee
    a $1,000-2,000 per month deduction

    Or: a $1-2,000 per month deduction
    (Or does this range look like "a one dollar to two thousand dollar per month deduction"?)

    ...that is, omit the $ sign before the second figure in each example above... look good?
     
  5. DueNorth

    DueNorth Senior Member

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    You only need the dollar sign once. That is the journalism protocol, anyway. Google it.
     
  6. DueNorth

    DueNorth Senior Member

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    And yes, a $1-2000 deduction would imply anywhere from one to two thousand dollars. BTW, very often in fiction writing numbers are written out as in five rather than 5 anyway, rendering your question less relevant in that genre.
     
  7. SethG

    SethG Member

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    So, obviously, $3 means two different things in the following examples; it just depends on the figure that follows it to convey the appropriate meaning. Does anybody see any ambiguity in the two examples below? This is nonfiction, of course.

    a $3-5 a month fee

    a $3-4,000 a year loss

    Thanks.
     
  8. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Well the 3 in the first is in the single digits, and the second is representing in the thousands. Am I close? It seems pretty cut and dry to me, but then again I am not a complete imbecile that would think you are trying to write some bad subtraction equations. :supergrin:
     
  9. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    If you mean $3 000, I think you need the extra zeros. Otherwise, highly ambiguous.
     

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