$20 million dollars

[Roozbeh]

Hi, Do you agree with me that $ and dollars cannot appear at the same time? To me, it's redundant. What do you think?


$20 million dollars for an idea and a landing page: http://jay.holtslander.com/2015/04/20-million-dollars-for-an-idea-and-a-landing-page/

Duolingo Makes News Again, Raising $20 million dollars: http://www.duolingo.com/comment/1900730

 

[emsr2d2]

It's tautologous. There is no need to write "dollars" if the writer has put $ before the figure. Don't expect everything you find on the internet to be correct.

 

[MikeNewYork]

It's like saying 20 million dollars dollars.

 

[Roozbeh]

My friend didn't accept that "$ and dollars" together is redundant. So, she has sent the question to Martine Moore. Look at his response. It's not clear enough to me. Does he Agree with us?







Dear ....,

Thank you for your question. You are right that we normally do not normally combine the currency symbol ($, £) and the word (pounds, dollars). However, for amounts of millions and above, it is permissible to combine symbols, numerals, words, and abbreviations, according to the conventions of the context in which they appear: £5 million, US$15 billion.

This information comes from New Hart’s Rules: The Oxford Style Guide (Oxford University Press), section 11.2.3. This is available as a print book and also as a premium online product at http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/secondary/harts_rules/

I hope this helps.

Martin Moore

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.


Martin Moore is quoting from New Hart’s Rules: The Oxford Style Guide (Oxford University Press), section 11.2.3, not expressing an opinion, so it's hard to say. It isn't clear whether everything in the first paragraph comes from the style guide or just the sentence beginning with the word 'however'.

In the preceding sentence he says that 'we normally do not normally (sic) combine the currency symbol and the word'. This sounds more like an opinion, so here he seems to be agreeing with you.

 

[SoothingDave]

However, for amounts of millions and above, it is permissible to combine symbols, numerals, words, and abbreviations, according to the conventions of the context in which they appear: £5 million, US$15 billion.

Those examples do combine symbols, numerals and words. What they don't do is be redundant.