Embedded Files
Dates
In English, we can say dates either with the day before the month, or the month before the day:
The first of January / January the first.
Remember to use ordinal numbers for dates in English.
(The first, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, the twenty-second, the thirty-first etc.)
i.e .- Today is the 24th of June
Years
For years up until 2000, separate the four numbers into two pairs of two:
730 = seven thirty
1965 = nineteen sixty-five
1871 = eighteen seventy-one
1900 = nineteen hundred
1999 = nineteen ninety-nine
For this decade, you need to say "two thousand and —-" when speaking British English:
2001 = two thousand and one
2009 = two thousand and nine
Large numbers
Divide the number into units of hundreds and thousands:
400,000 = four hundred thousand (no s plural)
If the number includes a smaller number, use "and" in British English:
450,000 = four hundred and fifty thousand
400,360 = four hundred thousand and three hundred and sixty
Fractions, ratios and percentages
½ = one half
1/3 = one third
¼ = one quarter
1/5 = one fifth
1/ 6 = one sixth etc
3/5 = three fifths
1.5% = one point five percent
0.3% = nought / zero point three percent
2:1 = two to one
Saying 0
Depending on the context, we can pronounce zero in different ways:
2-0 (football) = Two nil
30 – 0 (tennis) = Thirty love
604 7721 (phone number) = six oh four…
0.4 (a number) = nought point four / zero point four
0C (temperature) = zero degrees
Talking about calculations in English
+ (plus)
2 + 1 = 3 (two plus one equals three)
- (minus / take away)
5 – 3 = 2 (five minus three equals two / five take away three equals two)
x (multiplied by / times)
2 x 3 = 6 (two multiplied by three equals six / two times three equals six)
/ (divided by)
6 / 3 = 2 (six divided by three equals two)
Reading Years
1.- If there there are no thousands’ or hundreds’ digits, read the number as-is.
Examples:
o 54 – “fifty-four”
o 99 – “ninety-nine”
o 0 – “zero”
o 8 – “eight”
2.- If there is a thousands’ digit but the hundreds’ digit is zero, you can read the number as “n thousand and x”. If the last two digits are zero, you leave off the “and x” part.
Examples:
o 1054 – “one thousand and fifty-four”
o 2007 – “two thousand and seven”
o 1000 – “one thousand”
o 2000 – “two thousand”
3.- If the hundreds’ digit is non-zero, you can read the number as “n hundred and x”. If the last two digits are zero, you leave off the “and x” part.
Examples:
o 433 – “four hundred and thirty-three”
o 1492 – “fourteen hundred and ninety-two”
o 1200 – “twelve hundred”
o 600 – “six hundred”
4.- The above rule produces some formal and old-fashioned names. Where it exists, it is acceptable to omit “hundred and”. If you do, and the tens’ digit is zero, you must read that zero as “oh”.
Examples:
o 432 – “four thirty-two”
o 1492 – “fourteen ninety-two”
o 1908 – “nineteen oh eight”
o 1106 – “eleven oh six”
These are OK:
1509
-fifteen oh nine
-fifteen hundred (and) nine
1001
-one thousand (and) one
-ten oh one
1010
-ten ten
-one thousand (and) ten
650
-six (hundred) (and) fifty
2008
-two thousand (and) eight
-twenty oh eight
2012
-twenty twelve
-two thousand (and) twelve
2020
-twenty twenty
-two thousand and twenty
Report abuse