The rule book should help out the stenographer in the use of numbers and prices. Usage and a practical viewpoint both commend the use of figures for expressing sums of money. "Twelve hundred dollars" may be understood but it takes longer to write and does not make such a sharp image in the mind of the reader as $1,200. A common rule for figures is to spell out numbers under one hundred and to use numerals for larger amounts.
The use of abbreviations should be restricted and an inflexible rule should be never to use a man's initials or abbreviate his given name if he spells it out. If you find by a letterhead that the one to whom you are writing spells out the name of his state it is wise to follow the trail.
The errors in punctuation found in business correspondence are of infinite variety, although a surprising number of stenographers make similar errors in using hyphens for dashes and in misplacing quotation marks. Here is a common error:
"A model No. 8,—the one we exhibited at the Business
Show last week,—has been sold to a customer in New Zealand."
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There is no excuse for the comma used in connection with the dash and yet this construction is found in letters every day.
Unfortunately most typewriters do not have a dash and so the hyphen is used, but stenographers should be instructed to use two or, better yet, three hyphens without spacing (—-), rather than a single hyphen as is so frequently seen. Here is a sentence in which the girl was versatile enough to combine two styles in one sentence:
"The auto—-although it was completely overhauled a few days ago—-could not be started."
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In the first place, the single hyphen gives the appearance of a compound word, and placing a space on each side is scarcely less objectionable. Insist upon two or three hyphens without spaces when a dash is wanted.