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FEATURE
A
wish beyond words
Richard Cauldwell calls for
a novel way of teaching
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COLUMNS
Language
Interference
Borrowings and
false friends between
Russian and English
 Focus
on Language
Awareness:
Introduction
Numbers
Writing and pronouncing
numbers
UK version ¦ US
version
New
word of the month
New words in sport
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This article gives information about how
to say and write numbers in English. It also outlines some of the differences
in the use of numbers between British and American English.
•
Numbers from one to a million
• Ways of saying the
number 0
• Fractions and decimals
• Writing full stops
and commas in numbers
• Dates
• Money
• Phone numbers
• Route and road numbers
Numbers
from one to a million
| one |
| twenty-one |
| eighty-four |
| a/one hundred |
| two hundred |
British English four hundred and thirty-two
American English four hundred thirty-two |
| a/one thousand |
| a/one thousand and one |
| one thousand one hundred/eleven hundred
|
| two thousand |
British English two thousand nine hundred
and thirty-two
American English two thousand nine hundred thirty-two |
three thousand one hundred
American English also thirty-one hundred |
| a/one hundred thousand |
| a/one million |
You can say a hundred and fifty (150), but NOT
two thousand a hundred and fifty
(2,150). Say two thousand one hundred and fifty. People often use
a instead of one in conversation, but it is better to use
one in technical contexts.
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Ways
of saying the number 0
You can pronounce 0 like the letter o, when you are giving
a series of numbers such as a credit card number or a flight number. (See
also the sections on phone numbers and road
numbers).
Say oh in giving the name of a year, such as 1904 ('nineteen oh
four').
British English: Say nought or zero.
American English: Say zero.
British English: Say zero to refer to freezing point (0° Celsius
or -32° Fahrenheit).
American English: Say zero to refer to 0° Fahrenheit.
British English: Say nil.
American English: Say zero or nothing.
In tennis: Say love.
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Fractions
and decimals
| a half |
| two and a half |
| a quarter |
three quarters
American English also three fourths |
British English nought
point five
American English zero point five |
| two point five |
British English nought point two five
American English zero point two five |
British English nought point seven five
American English zero point seven five |
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Writing
full stops and commas in numbers
Use a full stop (.) to separate the main part of
a number from the decimal part (the part less than 1). 2.031 means
'two point nought three one'.
Say point to refer to the full stop. You can use
a comma (,) in large numbers to separate the hundreds, thousands,
and millions. 2,031
means 'two thousand and thirty-one'. In British English, spaces are sometimes
used instead of commas (2 031).
Remember:
Speakers of some other languages use (.) and (,) the other way around.
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Dates
British English: Write 3 June/3rd June/June
3/June 3rd. Say 'the third of June' or 'June the third'.
American English: Write June 3/June 3rd. Say
'June third'.
3/6 (or 03/06) means 3 June in British
English, and March 6 in American English. British and American speakers
put the month and day in different orders.
| ten sixty-six |
| sixteen oh five |
| seventeen seventy-six |
| nineteen hundred |
| nineteen ninety-nine |
| (the year) two thousand |
two thousand and one
American English also two thousand one |
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Money
These are some common ways of saying amounts of money.
British speakers talk about money in the following way:
| forty-five p or forty-five pence |
| one pound |
| one pound fifty or one fifty |
| two pounds |
| two pounds fifty-five or two fifty-five |
| a/one hundred pounds |
| a hundred and fifteen pounds, ninety-nine
p/pence |
| two hundred and fifty pounds or two fifty
pounds |
| two thousand six hundred and eighty-two
pounds, seventy-four p/pence |
American speakers talk about money in the following way:
| forty-five cents |
| a dollar |
| a dollar fifty |
| two dollars |
| two dollars and fifty-five cents or two
fifty-five |
| a/one hundred dollars |
| a/one hundred fifteen dollars and ninety-nine
cents or a/one hundred fifteen, ninety-nine |
| two hundred (and) fifty dollars or two
fifty dollars |
| two thousand six hundred eighty-two dollars
and seventy-four cents |
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Phone numbers
Say phone numbers as series of numbers, with pauses between
the groups of numbers. For example, say 08081 570983 as oh eight oh
eight one, five seven oh nine eight three.
British English: For phone numbers like 5155, people
often say five one double five. For numbers like 1555, people often
say one treble five or one five double five.
American English: People often say 'area code' before the first
part of the number, which represents the area where they live; for example,
area code five five five, six three two, nine eight two one (=(555)
632-9821).
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Route and
road numbers
These are some common ways of saying the numbers of routes
or roads.
| British English |
| /em/ one |
| /em/ sixty-two |
/e /
five |
| /e/
thirty-four |
/bi /
one five six two |
| American English |
| one oh one |
| two eighty |
| highway one |
| /a/
five, interstate five |
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