Answer: a.

Explanation:
Percentages are like fractions, parts of the whole. You can’t have more than 100 percent of a finite capacity. If you give something everything you’ve got, that’s 100% you’ve given.

As we all know, the director (in common with project managers and sports figures) is quite likely to have said 110 percent. And why they stop at 100, I don’t know — it might as well have been a thousand, a million, a gazillion percent. A mere 110 percent is pretty measly when you think about it. However, none of them make any sense, because if you’ve got something and you give 100 percent of it, it’s gone. Finito.

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Answer: b

Explanation:
According to AP style, percentages are an exception to the rule requiring numbers under 10 to be spelled out. Percent is spelled out, however, rather than symbolized.

And the only exception to that rule is if a percentage starts the sentence. We’d say, for example, that “Five percent of the federal government’s contracts are issued to women-owned small businesses.” Don’t quote that statistic, though — apparently that’s an as-yet unreached goal.

See more questions and answers about percentages.

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Explanation:
Although we think of percentages as single quantities rather than countable, when they refer to something countable — in this case, households — fewer is the correct choice. (Source: AP Stylebook)

So you would say:

• fewer than 40 percent of households
• less than 40 percent of building materials

• fewer than 40 percent of Christmas lists
• less than 40 percent of good behavior

• fewer than 40 percent of potluck dinners
• less than 40 percent of the jello mold (much less for me, thanks — is zero a percentage?)

See more about fewer vs. less and percentages.

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Answer: b.

Explanation: Because it`s a percentage of something quantifiable (Web users), fewer is the appropriate choice. We only use less to refer to something that is an undifferentiated mass — and humans tend to resent being referred to that way.

Martha Brockenbrough from The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar offers more information in her Top 10 Grammar Tips. Also discusses that prohibition against ending with a preposition, using a Bonnie Raitt song as an example. (Would you want to listen to a song called Let`s give them something about which to talk?)

Answer: a

Explanation: The rule is to use a figure for percentages. The only exception is the rare case where someone says “zero percent.” The rule for percentages is slightly different from the rule for most numbers. (In general, single-digit numbers are spelled out and larger numbers expressed as numerals.) (Source: AP Stylebook)

Answer: a
A figure that begins a sentence is always spelled out; elsewhere, numbers over ten are expressed as numerals. This rule still holds for ranges and percentages. (Source: AP Stylebook)