Unit 4 – Numbers - 1
A. Numbers
1. Cardinal numbers
Cardinal numbers are ordinary numbers like 1, 2, 3. The numbers from 13 (thirteen)
to 19 (nineteen) all end in -teen and are called the teens. Therefore, people from
thirteen to nineteen years of age are called teenagers.
Arabic numeral word Arabic numeral word
0 zero, naught 101 one hundred and one
1 One 152 one hundred and fifty-
two
11 Eleven 200 two hundred
12 Twelve 1,000 one thousand
13 Thirteen 1,000,000 one million
15 Fifteen 1,000,000,000 one billion
19 Nineteen 1,000,000,000,000 one trillion
20 Twenty
50 Fifty
100 one hundred
For numbers in the hundreds, the British usually say "and" but the Americans often
do not say "and":
British English: 120 = one hundred and twenty
American English: 120 = one hundred twenty
2. Ordinal Numbers
We use ordinal numbers to talk about the "order" of things or to define a thing's
position in a series.
first 1st eleventh 11th twenty- 21st Eightieth 80th
first
second 2nd twelfth 12th twenty- 22nd Ninetieth 90th
second
third 3rd thirteenth 13th twenty- 23rd hundredth 100th
third
fourth 4th fourteenth 14th twenty- 24th hundred 101st
fourth and first
fifth 5th fifteenth 15th thirtieth 30th hundred 152nd
and fifty-
second
sixth 6th sixteenth 16th thirty-first 31st two 200th
hundredth
seventh 7th seventeenth 17th fortieth 40th thousandth 1,000th
eighth 8th eighteenth 18th fiftieth 50th Millionth 1,000,000th
ninth 9th nineteenth 19th sixtieth 60th Billionth 1,000,000,000th
tenth 10th twentieth 20th seventieth 70th Trillionth 1,000,000,000,000th
Note that after the numeral or digit, we write the last two letters of the word. For
example, we take the last two letters of first and add them to the digit 1 to
make 1st.
3. Thousands in English
In English, when we write numerals or digits, we separate thousands with a comma
(,) as in this example: 5,300,000
We count 3 digits from the right and insert a comma, like this:
1,000 one thousand
4,500 four thousand, five hundred
96,000 ninety-six thousand
450,000 four hundred and fifty thousand
$6,300,000 six million, three hundred thousand dollars
We do NOT use a point (.) to separate thousands.
We do NOT use a space ( ) to separate thousands.
There is NO space before or after the comma.
When we have exact numbers with thousands (and hundreds), we do NOT add "s".
So, for example, for 2,500 we write and say:
two thousand, five hundred
We do NOT write and say:
two thousands, five hundreds
But note that we DO add "s" when we don't have an exact number:
There were thousands of people at the game.
Hundreds of people complained on Twitter.
4. Decimal Numbers
We can describe numbers smaller than one by using fractions or decimals. Today,
the decimal system is more common than fractions.
In English, the decimal separator is usually a point (.). Note that in some languages
the decimal separator is a comma (,).
Look at these decimal examples:
We write: We say:
0.3 naught point three
zero point three
3.45 three point four five
(NOT three point forty-five)
98.4 ninety-eight point four
$1.55 one dollar, fifty-five cents
one dollar, fifty-five
$700.00 seven hundred dollars
€3,500.50 three thousand five hundred euro and fifty cents
three thousand five hundred euro, fifty cents
B. Fractions
We can describe numbers smaller than one by using decimals or fractions. Today,
most systems use decimals, but it is still useful to know how to read and say simple
fractions in English.
Look at these examples of fractions:
We write: We say:
½ a half OR one half
¼ a quarter OR one quarter
¾ three quarters
⅓ a third OR one third
⅔ two thirds
⅕ a fifth OR one fifth
⅗ three fifths
⅛ an eighth OR one eighth
⅝ five eighths
1½ one and a half
5¾ five and three quarters
Although the system of fractions is not used much these days, we commonly use a
few simple fractions in everyday speech, for example:
They phoned half an hour ago.
Hurry up! The bus leaves in a quarter of an hour.
The police station is about three quarters of a mile past the traffic lights.
Note that after "one and a half", the noun is plural:
Go straight on for one and a half kilometres. (OR ...one kilometre and a half)
We had to wait for one and a half hours. (OR ...an hour and a half)
C. Exercise
I. Choose the correct answer.
1. Which is an ordinal number?
A. three
B. third
C. point three
2. Which is a cardinal number?
A. three
B. third
C. point three
3. Which is a decimal number?
A. three
B. third
C. point three
4. Which uses a fraction to express a period?
A. 1.5 hours
B. ninety minutes
C. an hour and a half
5. How is the number 4.55 pronounced?
A. four fifty-five
B. four point fifty-five
C. four point five five
6. Which number is written as XIX in Roman numerals?
A. nine
B. eleven
C. nineteen
II. Fill in the blanks with appropriate words to complete the sentences.
1. If you buy a dozen eggs you get __________ eggs.
2. A person with a pair of gloves has __________ gloves.
3. A trio has __________ musicians.
4. There are __________ years in a century.
5. There are __________ days in a week.
6. There are__________ hours in a day.
7. Most people have __________ toes on each foot.
8. There are __________ states in the USA.
9. A child becomes a teenager at age __________ .
10. There are __________ cents in a dollar.
