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Terry was curling Wednesday night and misplaced his lesson on numbers. In the staff room, he hurriedly wrote the following down on an old overhead.

This is what the students saw.


Ice Hockey
  1. 7 students asked me to explain the rules of hockey last week.
  2. This is the 3rd time I've had to do this over the past three years.
  3. Each team has 6 players on the ice.
  4. One player is a goaltender, and the other five are skaters.
  5. There are two defensemen, three forwards and twelve reserves.
  6. Each game lasts for 3 twenty-minute periods.
  7. The referee drops the three-inch disc, known as a puck, to start the game.
  8. The skaters try to pass the puck along the ice and shoot it at the goal.
  9. Only one-ninetieth of shots become goals!
  10. The average size of a professional player is six feet three inches and 90 kilograms.


Below indicate if the lines above are correct or if there is a problem. Also describe the rule that is broken in the incorrect lines.

#
Correct
Incorrect
If the line is incorrect, explain why.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
  • Show / Hide the Answers

      1.     incorrect - Seven
      (if a number begins a sentence then spell the number)

      2.     incorrect - third
      (ordinal numbers are always spelled when not referring to days)

      3.     incorrect - six
      (spell numbers one through ten by use digits for numbers over ten)

      4.     correct

      5.     incorrect - 2 defensemen, 3 forwards and 12 reserves
      (when one number in a series is over ten then write all numbers as figures)

      6.     incorrect - three 20-minute
      (when one number immediately follows another number, write out the number that uses the fewest letters)

      7.     correct

      8.     correct

      9.     incorrect - 1/90
      (fractions that create a long compund term should be written as figures)

      10.   incorrect - 6 feet 3 inches and ninety kilograms
      (use figures when there is more than one, in metric write number and the unit the same way)


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