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Where I work, we commonly write out the text for numbers (specifically, numbers less than 10) followed by the numeral in parentheses.

For example,

Quarterly increase of four (4) thousand customers.

Is there a name for this type of syntax? Follow-up question: any input on whether the following is correct?

This is a nine (9) -week program for interns.

tkendrick20
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    My name for it is "silly". It looks like an attempt to be lawyerly when it's almost always just redundant. In my gym there's a sign posted that "guests are limited to two (2) towels per visit". Oh, I was going to take three (3) but that clarifies it. – Jim Mack Mar 17 '15 at 17:53
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    It's a reformulatory appositive parenthetical. But they're supposed to be used to clarify. I hate to think what Jim Mack will say next. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 17 '15 at 17:58
  • @JimMack It's so we can skim a document and easily find the important numerical information for quick reference. – tkendrick20 Mar 17 '15 at 18:01
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    Tangentially related: Why are numbers sometimes spelled out and then numerals specified as well? – choster Mar 17 '15 at 18:03
  • Ah, this becomes a highlighting device rather like bold print. It's just emphasis for your usage. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 17 '15 at 18:03
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    Your first example should be "4000" or "4 000," since it is a number significantly higher than 10. – wys1wyg Mar 17 '15 at 18:21
  • It would be more important as a disambiguation for numbers like billion (and jillion, zillion, squillion, gazillion, kazillion, bajillion, and bazillion). – Canis Lupus Mar 17 '15 at 18:25
  • @EdwinAshworth Yeah, I was just being curmudgeonly. Certainly there are valid uses for it. But not usually. – Jim Mack Mar 17 '15 at 21:42
  • @Jim Mack I meant when you read the term reformulatory appositive parenthetical. If four = 4 is silly, ... – Edwin Ashworth Mar 17 '15 at 23:04
  • Why not just use numerals exclusively? – Ian MacDonald Mar 18 '15 at 05:23
  • @EdwinAshworth Ah, bim! I'm so used to seeing obscure / arcane jargon here that I skimmed right over that. Got me. – Jim Mack Mar 18 '15 at 15:30
  • It could be to make refactoring easier. Searching for "10" always finds every instance of that number, whether it's "ten (10)" or "10". Such refactoring may be more necessary than you originally think. I recently signed a contract where many numbers are blanks filled out by the office, which suggests that (some) companies like to change specific number details about the contracts their clients are signing. – nathanfranke Sep 23 '22 at 09:02
  • This is used correctly when it provides a number coded in different ways for different audiences. A 27/64 drill bit (.4219", 10.37mm, #76), equivalent numbers in different bases, or providing a measure required by a style guide when the conventual measure is different. Heat and radiation values are likely targets - BTU (Wh) , rem (Sv). – Phil Sweet Mar 17 '24 at 14:57
  • For a specific geometry, the values associated with two points may be stacked this way. If the lamp is ten feet from a wall, I can state the required illuminance on the wall in lux, and the implied luminous intensity of the lamp in candela. But this assumes you understand lux can only apply to the wall and candela can only apply to the lamp. – Phil Sweet Mar 17 '24 at 14:57

1 Answers1

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There is (OED)

enumerate, v.

2. Grammar. To ‘qualify’ numerically. rare.

1876 A. B. Davidson Introd. Hebrew Gram. (ed. 2) §48 The other numerals are nouns and disagree in gender with the words which they enumerate.

and also

enumerative, adj.

Etymology: < enumerate v. + -ive suffix.

That has the function of enumerating; concerned with enumeration. Const. of.

1847 H. Miller First Impressions Eng. vi. 111 He [Thomson] rather enumerates than describes..Now the prospect from the hill at Hagley furnished me with the true explanation of this enumerative style.

The adjective could thus be substantivised.

"For clarity or to prevent fraud, an enumerative may follow the written number."

Greybeard
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  • Using numbers in nominal or perhaps ordinal data (eg Strong's Number 578: אָנַה 'anah {aw-naw'} A primitive root; to groan [Hebrew Dictionary ... Lexiconcordance.com] is hardly the same as giving a second version of a string. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 21 '23 at 13:53
  • Note: 2. Grammar. To ‘qualify’ numerically. rare. I wouldn't get too excited about Strong's. In the OP's example, there is not much doubt that the words for the numbers are enumerated - the verb simply refers to putting a number somewhere. – Greybeard Jul 21 '23 at 16:27
  • So, almost outside the ballpark. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 21 '23 at 16:44
  • It is not clear how the quoted definitions from the OED are relevant to the question, as they don't say or imply anything about the specific practice that the OP describes. The quotation at the end of the answer is more relevant, but we are not told where it's from, and it seems to be about the opposite practice of writing the the number in numerals first, and in words after that. – jsw29 Mar 17 '24 at 16:23
  • @jsw29. The question is "Is there a name for this type of syntax?" the answer I gave is that the syntax is enumerative. The source of both quotations is there. To ‘qualify’ numerically. – Greybeard Mar 17 '24 at 23:07