Numbers Writing and saying numbers Numbers over 20 are written with a hyphen: 35 thirty five 67 stety-seven » When writing a cheque we often use words for the pounds or dollars and figures for the pence or cents: £22.45 twenty-two pounds (anid) 45 pence $79.30 seventy-nine dollars (and) 30 cents Numbers over 100 329 three hundred and twenty-nine = The and is pronounced /1/ and die stiess ison the final number. = In American English the and is sometimes left out. Numbers over 1000. 1200 ene thousand one hundred (ahoinforra) eleven huretred 2500 two thousand fare hundred (aks0 informal expecially in NAm=) twenty-five hundied = These informal forms are mest common for whole hundreds between 1190 and 1900, = Acommia or (in BrF) a space is often used to divide large numbers into groups of 3 figures: © 93,423 of 33.423 (thicty-three thousand four hundred and nuenty-three) * 2,768,941 or 2 768.941 (two million seven hundred and sixty-eight thousand nine hundred and forty-one) Aorone? 130 a/one hundred and thirty 1000000 a/ome million @ one is more formal and more precise and can be used for emphasis: » The total cost was one hundred and sixty- three pounds exactly. Meostabour a hundred and fifty quid. ‘= acan only be wsed at the beginning ofa number: 1000 a/one thousand ‘2100 two thousand one hundred Hoearcttenecttedee hiaieient ‘ais not usually used between 110 and 1999: 1009 a/one thousand and ninety-nine 1100 one thousand one hundred 1340. one thousand thize hundred and forty Ordinal numbers Ist first 2nd second Std third 4th fourth Sth fifth yt ninth 12th twelfth 2ist hwenty‘first ate, Fractions vo _a/onehalf \v a/onethind Vs a/one quarter (Wirt alsoa/one fourth) (foremphasis use one instead of a) Viz ome twelfth Vis one sixteenth 2 2/5 two thirds 3/s three quarters (NAmé also three fourths) She nine tenths More complex fractions # use over: 13/56 nineteen over fifty-six: SV/i4a. thirty-one over one four four Whole numbers and fractions: 1» link with and: 2p veoand a half 5/9 five and two thirds = one plus a fraction is followed by aplural noan: Vyapis oneand a half pints Fractions percentages and noun phrases = use of; > a fith of the women questioned » three quarters of the population 75% of the population # with half do notusea, and of can sometimes be omitted: > Haif(o) the work is already finished. «= do notuse of in expressions of measurement ‘or quantity: : © How much ishalfa pint of milkt » Htakes me half an hour by bus. = use of before pronouns: » Weean't start - only halforus arches. Fractions / percentages and verbs = Tia fraction/percentage is used with an_ uncountable or a singular noun the verb is generally singular: a ‘the: > Hild lind eda+» ifthenoun is singular butrepresents a group ‘of people, the verb is singular in American English but in British English itmay be singular or plural: © Three quarters/?5% of the workforce is/are against the strike. « Ifthe nouns plural, the verb is plural: » Two thirds/65% of children play computer games. Decimals = write and say with a point ()) (nota comma) » say each figure after the point separately: 79.3. seventy-nine point three 3.142 three point one four two 0.67 (zero) point six seven (@rEais0) nought point six seven Mathematical expressions plus minus: times/multiplied by divided by equals/is per cent (NAmé Usuolly percent) three squared five cubed sixto the power often square 100t of sgggerters The figure ‘0’ ‘The figure 0 has several different names in English, although in American English zero is ‘commonly used in all cases: Zero used in precise scientific, medical and mic contexts and totalk about temperature: > Itwas ten degrees below zero last night. » zero inflation’growth/profit Nought = usedin British English toralk about a number, age, etc. A million is written with [Link]. » The car goes from nought to sixty ten seconds. * Claes for idron ge novight vo sz (ol fou; NAmt 0v/ used when saying @ bank account number, telephone number, etc. Nil * used to talkabout the scorein a team game, for example in football: The final score was one nil. (1-0) = used to mean ‘nothing at all; * The doctors rated her chances as nil. Telephone numbers » All numbers are said separately, is pronounced /au/ (B/E) or /ov/ (NAME): © (01885) 556767 one eight stx five, five five six seven six seven (or double five six seven six seven) Temperature ‘The Celsius or Centigrade (C) scale is officially used in Britain and for scientific purposes in the US: > a high of thirty-five degrees Celsius » The normal temperature of the human body is 37°C. « ‘The Fahrenheit (*F) scale is used in all other contexts in the US and is also still commonly used in Britain. The words ‘degrees Fahrenheit/Centigrade/Celsius! are often omitted: » Temperaiures soared to over a hundred. (106°F) » She's ill in bed with a temperauure of a hundred and two, (102"F) Money In Britain 100 pence/p = 1 British pound (£1) » Ticosts 90p/90 pence return on the bus. ‘© when talking about an individual coin: @ twenty pence plece/a twenty p piece « when talking about pounds and pence people often only say the numbers: only cost five ninety-nine, (£5.99) 1 in informal British English: fl aquid £5 five quid ora fiver £10 ten quid ora tenner Inthe US le onecent apenny Sc five cents anickel 1c ten cents adime 25¢ —twenty-fivecents a quarter $1.00 one dollar adollar bill «= ininformal American English dollars ate called bucks: » Thisshirt cost fifty bucks.Writing and saying dates British English > 14 October 1998 oF 14th October 1998 (44/10/98) » Her birthday is on the ninth of December. > Her birthday is on December the ninth. ‘American English + October 14, 1998 (10/14/98) » Her birthday is December 3th. Years 1999 1608 ineteen ninety-nine sixteen o eight (or, less commonty, nineteen hundred and ninety-nine and sixteen hundred and eight) seventeen hundred (the year) two thousand 2002 two thousand and two 2015 twenty fifteen AD76/4.D.76 AD seventy-six T6CE/76C.E, seventy-six CE (Both these expressions mean ‘76 years after the beginning of the Christian calendar’) 1000BC/ 1000 B.C, one thousand BC 1000 BCE/1000B.C.E one thousand BCE (Both these expressions mean “1000 years before the beginning of the Christian calendar’) 1700 2000 Age when sayinga person's age use only numbers: » Sue is ten and Tom is six. » She lefthome at sixteen. = aman/woman/boy/girl, etc. of .. » They've got a girl of hreeand a boy office. > @ young woman of nineteen ‘inwriting, in descriptions or to emphasize b's age use... years old: » She was thirty one years old anda barrister by profession. » He tsdescribed as white, 3ft 10 ins talland about 50 years old. » You're forty years old - stop behaving like-a teenager! » years old is also used for things: » The monument is 120 years old. = You can also saya ..year-oldimonth-old/ week-old, > Youth training ts available to all sixtéen- year-olds. > @ienweek-old baby > @remarkable 1000 year-old tomb a = Use years of age in formal orwritten contexts: Not applicable to persons under eighteen years ofcage « Use the...age group to talk about people between certain ages: He took first prize in the 10-16 age group. « To give the approximate age ofa person: 13-19 in his/her teens 21-29 in his/her twenties 31-33 in his/her early thirties 34-36 in his/her mid thirties 37-39 in hisyher late thirties » Toreferto a particular eventyou can. use at/by/before, etc. the age of... Most smokers start smoking cigarettes before the age of sixteen. Numbers in time ‘Thereis often more than one way of telling thetime: Halfhours 630 six thirty ‘half pst six (86) half sbx Gr€ informal) Other times 5:45. fiveforty five (a) quarter to six (82) (a) quarter to/of six (NAené) 215 twofifteen (a) quarter past mwot®E) (@) quarter after two (NAME) 1510 oneten ten past one(@E) ten after one (NAME) three o five five past three (Bt) © ‘five after three(NArE) 1:55 onefifty-five five to two (82) “five to/of two (NérrE) with5, 10, 20 and 25 the word minutes is not_ necessary, but itis used with other numbers: 10.25 twenty-five past/after ten — 10.17 seventeen minutes past/ = use o'clock only for whole hours: > It’s three o'clock, Ifitis necessary to specify the time of day _usein the morning, in the afternoon. in the evening orat night. —— 1» inmore formal contexts use: —— am. = in the morning or after midnight _ p.m. = in the afternoon, in the evening before midnight - » He gets up at 4 am. to deliver the mail. Donotuseo'dlockwithamorpms He get ueprat terion, > He gets up at o'clock in the morning ME reo) » Ulsee you at 6 o'clock this evening.timetables in Britain: 13:52 thirteen fifty-two (1:52 p.m.) 22:30 twenty-two thirty (10:30 p.m.) Used, speaking from a pointof view: in ewe past ‘present future moming yesterday morning x tomorrowmorning afternoon _yesterday afternoon tomorrow afternoon eo evening yesterday evening this evening tomorrow evening, night last night tonight tomorrow night day yesterday aH tomorrow i week last week next week month fast month next month year last year this: year next year ‘To talk about a time furtherback in the past or further forward in the future use: past future s the day before yesterday the day after tomorrow the week/month/year before last the week/month/year after next twodays/weeks, etc ago intwo days/weeks, etc. time ‘To talk about sth that happens regularly use expressions with ‘every’ » He has to work every third weekend. © Twash my hair every other day (= every second day), In British English a period of two weeks is a fortnight. © I’ve got a fortnight’s holiday in Spain. Prepositions of time ingthe) on(the) partsoftheday(notnight) inthe morning(s), dayofthe week on Saturdays inthe evenings), ete. dates _ on (the) 20th (of) May anette (WAmnE also on May 201h) particular days on Good Friday seasons in (the) summer ‘on New Year's Day years in 1995 ‘on my birihday decades inthe 1920s on the following day centuries inthe 20th century clocktime ats o'clock at7asp.n. night aright periods atChristmas atthe weekend (B/E)