Episode 3

【✏ Writing-Wise Series ✒】

[Standardized English exams]

After the previous issue, you are expected to have some ideas about how to wisely write an interpretation of statistics ✌.  However, you may wonder what vocabulary items are necessary 🤔, and this is what I have to introduce in these coming few issues 😏.

The sample paragraphs demonstrated in the previous issue mainly deal with how to present proportions, i.e. how large/small each part in a bar chart 📊 or a pie chart at a certain point of time, without the involvement of the change within a time frame (linguistically speaking, synchronic).

Let’s start with some fractions – if you find any of the portions in a bar chart or a pie chart with a size close to these fractions, you may consider using the following to present your information in hand 📑:

🔴   50% (½) ➡ half (of) the XXX (Note 1️⃣)

🟠   33% (⅓) ➡ a third / one(-)third of XXX (Note 2️⃣)

🟡   66% (⅔) ➡ two(-)third(s) of XXX (Note 3️⃣)

🟢   25% (¼) ➡ a quarter of XXX

🔵   75% (¾) ➡ three quarters of XXX (Note 4️⃣)

🟣   20% (⅕) ➡ a fifth / one(-)fifth of XXX (Note 2️⃣)

You have to notice language accuracy ✅ when presenting such fractions in words:

⚠Note 1️⃣:

Do not miss “the” after “half”  – it is optional when stating other fractions.  However, “of” is optional here while it must appear in other fractions, as shown above.

⚠Note 2️⃣:

You may use “a” or “one” when presenting “⅓”, “⅕” or other fractions with the numerator “1” (except “½”), but a hyphen is (-) not necessary for the former while it is optional for the latter.  The same applies to other fractions expressed in ordinal numbers (i.e. fourth, fifth, sixth, …).

⚠Note 3️⃣:

Besides paying attention to Note 2️⃣, “s” must be written after “third” when putting “66%” into words – “third” is a plural noun here because there are two “⅓”s!

⚠Note 4️⃣:

I don’t regard it necessary to emphasize the final “s” here, but “three quarters” should be expressed in two words.

You are now smart enough to have other fractions like ⅘, ⅚ and ⅛ written in English words.  Nevertheless, you are also so wise to say, “Not every item (in fact, many more) in a chart or table is exactly or close to the fractions above!!!” 😩  Yes, stay tuned for the issue next week on how to deal with such numbers! 👌