Cardinal numbers
- 379 = three hundred and seventy nine
- 2,860 = two thousand eight hundred and sixty
- 5,084 = five thousand and eighty-four
- 470,000 = four hundred and seventy thousand
- 2,550,000 = two million, five hundred and fifty thousand
- 3,000,000,000 = three billion
Note: There is no plural's' after hundred, thousand, million and billion when they are part of a number.
On their own, they can be plural, e.g. thousands of people; millions of insects.
Ordinal numbers and dates
One of the problems with dates is that we write them and say them in a different way:
- We write 4 January (or 4th January), but say the fourth of January or January the fourth.
- We write 21 May (or 21st May), but say the twenty-first of May or May the twenty-first.
- 1997 = nineteen ninety seven
- 1905 = nineteen hundred and five or nineteen oh five
Fractions and decimals
- 1 1/4 = one and a quarter
- 1 1/2 = one and a half
- 1 3/4 = one and three quarters
- 1 1/3 = one and a third
- 1.25 = one point two five
- 1.5 = one point five
- 1.75 = one point seven five
- 1.33 = one point three three
Percentages
- 26% = twenty-six per cent
- More than 50% is the majority; less than 50% is the minority.
Arithmetic
There are four basic processes for working out (= calculating) a problem:
+ = addition e.g. 6 + 4 = 10 (six plus/and four equals/is ten)
- = subtraction e.g. 6-4 = 2 (six minus four equals/is two)
X = multiplication e.g. 6 X 4= 24 (six times / multiplied by four equals/is twenty-four)
/ = division e.g. 4/2 = 2 (four divided by two equals/is two)
Saying '0'
This can be spoken in different ways in different contexts.
- telephone number: 603 724 = six oh three, seven two four (AmEng = six zero three)
- mathematics: 0.7 = nought point seven, 6.02 = six point oh two
- temperature: -10 degrees = ten degrees below zero / minus ten degrees
- football: 2-0 = two nil
- tennis: 40-0 = forty love
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