1 - one
2 - two
3 - three
4 - four
5 - five
6 - six
7 - seven
8 - eight
9 - nine
10 - ten
11 - eleven
12 - twelve
13 - thirteen
14 - fourteen
15 - fifteen
16 - sixteen
17 - seventeen
18 - eighteen
19 - nineteen
20 - twenty
21 - twenty-one
22 - twenty-two
23 - twenty-three
24 - twenty-four
25 - twenty-five
26 - twenty-six
27 - twenty-seven
28 - twenty-eight
29 - twenty-nine
30 - thirty
40 - forty
50 - fifty
60 - sixty
70 - seventy
80 - eighty
90 - ninety
100 - one hundred
Hundreds and tens are usually separated by 'and' (in American English 'and' is not necessary).
110 - one hundred and ten
1,250 - one thousand, two hundred and fifty
2,001 - two thousand and one
Use 100 always with 'a' or 'one'.
100 - a hundred / one hundred
'a' can only stand at the beginning of a number.
100 - a hundred / one hundred
2,100 - two thousand, one hundred
Use 1,000 and 1,000,000 always with 'a' or 'one'.
1,000 - a thousand / one thousand
201,000 - two hundred and one thousand
Use commas as a separator.
57,458,302
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.)
Giving the Date
Question:
What's today? or
What day is it today?
What's the date?
Answers:
Today's Tuesday, June 6. (June sixth)
It's June 6. or It's the 6th of June.
When someone asks you the date, it's not necessary to give the year. For example:
Years
For years up until 2000, separate the four numbers into two pairs of two:
1965 = nineteen sixty-five
1871 = eighteen seventy-one
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)
The 2008 Masters
Thirty years ago golf legend Gary Player, now 72, won his third and last Masters tournament in Augusta, Georgia. Yesterday, a second golfer from South Africa won the Masters. "Finally!" said Gary, proudly.
Sunday, April 13, was cool and very windy. Only nine of the 45 golfers managed to shoot par or better. Trevor Immelman, 28, struggled throughout the day. But he managed to maintain his lead, finally beating Tiger Woods by three strokes. Tiger finished in second place for the third year in a row.
Trevor was PGA Rookie of the Year in 2006. But since 2006 he had won only one PGA tournament. He missed the first two months of the 2008 golf season after surgeons removed a benign tumor on his diaphragm. The tumor, coincidentally, was the size of a golf ball. Trevor played poorly in the tournaments he entered after recovering from the surgery.
In the Houston tournament just one week before the Masters, Trevor missed the cut. In professional golf tournaments, the cut occurs after the first 36 holes. Half the golfers—the ones with the worst scores—are dropped from the tournament. They earn no money.
In Britain, where bookies always post the odds for the Masters, Trevor was a long shot. But anyone who bet $10 on him before Thursday would have won $800 on Sunday. In two weeks, Trevor had gone from worst to first—from failing to win a dime in Texas to wearing the prized green jacket in Georgia (and $1.35 million). When asked what contributed most to his victory, Trevor said it wouldn't have been possible without his parents' loving support during his years as a junior golfer.
The Tax Charge
The envelope had the words "Internal Revenue Service" printed on the outside. Oh no, Vaughn thought, this could be bad news. It was bad news. IRS had determined that Vaughn owed $963, plus $88 interest, from two years ago. They had disallowed a deduction for two reasons. One, his adjusted gross income that year was more than $40,000, and two, he was covered by an employer retirement plan. Therefore, said IRS, he was not allowed the deduction he had taken for his individual retirement account.
IRS sent him six pages of explanations and instructions. IRS included a returnable form with an "Agree" box and a "Disagree" box. If he checked Agree, he must pay the full amount. If he checked Disagree, he must send documentation supporting the reasons for his disagreement. If his documentation was correct, he would owe nothing.
He called the IRS 800 number just to make sure he had read the instructions correctly. An agent told him to simply send a check with the full amount whether he agreed or disagreed. If he disagreed but his documentation was correct, IRS would return the full amount of his check within eight weeks.
"Don't believe that agent. For now, just send them the documentation," advised Vaughn's brother later that day. "Make IRS wait for the money. It's your money, not theirs."
Exercise 1.Read the following sets of number words stressing the appropriate syllable.
twenty the twentieth (20th) eighteen the eighteenth (18th)
thirty the thirtieth (30th) fourteen the fourteenth (14th)
sixteen the sixteenth (16th) nineteen the ninteenth (19th)
seventeen the seventeenth (17th) fifteen the fifteenth (15th)
Exercise 2. read the following sentences correctly stressing each number word on the seperate syllable.
1. Her booth number is thirteen not thirty.
2. Seventy classrooms will be constructed on the nineteenth of this month.
3. Mother will be forty on the sixteenth of December.
Here are some phrases you can use when you want to know the time:
To tell someone what the time is, we can say "The time is..." or, more usually, "It's...". Here is a typical dialogue:
Question:
Answer:
What's the time, please?
It's three o'clock.
The chart below shows you two different ways to tell someone what the time is.
Dialogue 1
Christian is an international student from Costa Rica. He calls a local Chinese restaurant to place an order and Bill answers the phone.
Bill: China Wok, this is Bill, how may I help you?
Christian: Hello, I would like to order the sesame chicken.
Bill: Take-out or delivery?
Christian: Delivery, please.
Bill: Ok, what‘s the address?
Christian: 130 Jefferson St. Apartment #2
Bill: Ok, and your phone number?
Christian: 319-245-2626
Bill: Ok, and did you want the large or the small order of sesame chicken?
Christian: The small order, please, and I would also like an order of crab Rangoon.
Bill: Ok, will that be all?
Christian: Yes, that’s all.
Bill: Ok, your total is $9.95, that’ll be about 30 minutes.
Christian: Thank you!
Dialogue 2
At the Post Office
A-Hello! I’d like to send this package to Viet Nam.
B-Sure. Would you rather send it by air or ground?
A-What is the difference?
B-It takes up to 60 days to deliver it if sent by ground and about 2 weeks by air.
A-Oh, I’d prefer to get it there as soon as possible.
B-Would you like to insure the package?
A-Would I like……for sure?
B-Would you like to get some money back in case your package gets lost? To insure it?
A-Oh, yes, certainly.
B-Let’s weigh it now. It’s 20 pounds.
A-20… When I weighed it at home it was only 9.2 kilograms.
B-right, 1 pound is 0.46 kilograms.
A-OK. How much do I have to pay?
B-It's $15.65.