Apart from the first three ordinal numbers: 1st = the first 2nd = the second 3rd = the third 103rd = the hundred and third Most other ordinals are formed by adding 'th' to the cardinal n
Trang 1Numbers, time, dates and prices
Student's name _ Date _
Ordinal numbers
Ordinal numbers are usually preceded by the definite article (the) unless a possessive adjective is
used
The eighteenth floor Her eighteenth birthday
For many language students the most difficult thing about ordinal numbers is the pronunciation. the 'th' sound at the end of most ordinal numbers does not exist in many Latin based languages. Don't
forget that this sound must be pronounced with air escaping between your tongue and upper teeth! Apart from the first three ordinal numbers:
1st = the first 2nd = the second 3rd = the third
103rd = the hundred and third
Most other ordinals are formed by adding 'th' to the cardinal number
500th = the five hundredth
However, there are some difficult cases. 'V' changes to 'F' and the final 'E' is dropped from '5' and '12' 5th = the fifth
12th = the twelfth (in both cases the 'F' is silent and the numbers are pronounced /FIθ/ & /TWELθ/) With multiples of ten the final 'Y' changes to 'IETH'
30th = the thirtieth
Don't forget that the final 'E' is also dropped from the number 9
9th = the ninth /NAINTH/
Cardinal numbers
Compound numbers should be written with a hyphen
22 = twentytwo
The word stress for 'tens' is on the first syllable, and for 'teens' it is on the second syllable
13 /θERTEEN/ 30 /θERTEE/
Spoken English usually uses the indefinite article (a) with numbers between 100 and 199
139 = a hundred and thirtynine
In more formal English, 'one' can be used
139 = one hundred and thirtynine
Either 'a' or 'one' can also be used with 1000; 100,000 ; 1,000,000 ; 1 billion ; 1 trillion etc
100,000 = a hundred thousand (informal) or one hundred thousand (formal)
Only 'one' can be used if a number above 99 follows thousand, million etc
1,100 = one thousand, one hundred
Or if '100' is preceded by other numbers
10,100 = ten thousand, one hundred
In British English, when saying cardinal numbers, 'and' comes after the word 'hundred'
4,150 four thousand, one hundred and fifty. (in US English this 'and' is sometimes dropped)
If a number between 1 and 99 follows thousand, million etc, 'and' is also used
123,099 = a/one hundred and twentythree thousand and ninetynine
5,001 = five thousand and one
In informal English (both UK and US), it is possible to pronounce numbers between 1,099 and 1,901 which end in two zeros in the following way:
1,200 = twelve hundred feet 1,800 = eighteen hundred people
In formal English these numbers would be 'one thousand, two hundred' and 'one thousand eight
hundred'
Don't forget that there is no 'U' in the number 40! (forty)
Percentages are written like this: 26% = twentysix per cent
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Brazilian students: Don't forget that in English a COMMA is used to separate billions, millions and thousands!
Decimals and lists of numbers
In decimal numbers (less than one), '0' is pronounced 'nought' /NORT/ in British English, and 'zero' /ZEEROW/ in USA English if it comes before the decimal point
0.3 = nought point three (UK) and zero point three (US)
If '0' appears to the right of the decimal point it is pronounced 'zero' in both Britain and the USA
1.03 = one point zero three (UK&US)
After the decimal point, each number must be spoken individually
7.3661 = seven point three, six, six, one
When numbers appear in lists, for example bank account, room and flight numbers, '0' is pronounced like the letter 'O' /OW/
'0' is also pronounced /OW/ in telephone numbers. When saying telephone numbers in English you can't use any number above '9'. However, if the same number is repeated you can use the word
'double' /DUBL/. 6641044 = double six, four, one, oh, double four. There is an exception to the 'no number above 9' rule with some prefixes eg. 0800 = oh, eight hundred
In football scores '0' is 'nil' /NIL/, and in tennis it is 'love' /LUV/
Brazilian students: don't forget that a COMMA is NOT used to separate decimals from whole
numbers!
Fractions
Fractions combine both cardinal and ordinal numbers, with three exceptions (½, ⅓ & ¼)
The indefinite article (a/an) is used when the upper number is 1
½ = a half, ⅓ = a third, ¼ = a quarter, ⅛ = an eighth
In fractions starting with a number above 1, cardinal numbers combine with plural ordinal numbers (see exceptions above)
¾ = three quarters, ⅜ = three eighths
When fractions combine with whole numbers, use 'and' between the two types of number
16⅞ = sixteen and seven eighths
Time
There are three conventions for telling the time in English. They depend on the level of formality
1 informal spoken English
2 Neutral (can be used in most situations)
3 Formal (used for public transport and by the military)
Here are examples of the spoken forms of these three conventions:
7.31pm Twentynine minutes to eight Seven, thirtyone Nineteen, thirtyone (hours)
*'in the morning', 'in the afternoon', 'in the evening' and 'at night' will be added if there is any
possibility that the time of day may be misunderstood
Trang 3saying the time
*** The word 'hours' is usually added in military time, but not necessarily in other areas
What comes before the time depends on the question: What's the time? It's When did it happen?
At
Dates
The way the date is written and spoken is different:
13/2/05
2/13/05
The thirteenth of February two thousand and five
February the thirteenth two thousand three
Note that ordinal numbers are used for the day
What comes before the date depends on the type of question asked:
What's the date today? It's the fifth of August two thousand and four
When did it happen? On the thirtieth of March nineteen eighty
Years
Look at these examples:
15BC = Fifteen before Christ 1902 = Nineteen oh two
10AD = Ten after Christ (AD = Latin for 'Anno Domini') 1999 = Nineteen ninetynine
1500 = Fifteen hundred 2000 = (The year) two thousand
1900 = Nineteen hundred 2002 = Two thousand and two
Ordinal numbers are also used for centuries:
1900 1999 = The twentieth century 2000 + = The twentyfirst century
Prices
This worksheet will focus on prices in England, Europe and the USA. Don't forget that the name of the currencies in other countries may be different in both spelling and pronunciation than it is
pronounced by the native speakers of the country. When two counties use the same name for their currencies, it's common to put the adjective for the country before the less known country eg. Cypriot Pound, Australian Dollar. The abbreviations will also be different (CYP or CY£, AU$ or AUD). In informal English, people do not usually write 'GB' before a pound sign, or 'US' before a Dollar sign
As with dates, prices are usually spoken differently than they are written. Look at these examples:
The UK. (if there's no pound sign on your computer, press CTRL+Shift+Alt+$)
£33.02 Thirtythree pounds and two pence* Thirtythree pounds and tuppence
* For pounds + less than ten pence, the words 'and pence' are added, but not pounds + more than 9p
Eg. £10.09 = Ten pounds and nine pence £10.10 = Ten pounds ten
The European Union, The United States, Australian and Canada (for the USA, Australia and Canada, replace the Euro sign with a '$' sign and replace the word 'Euro/s' with 'Dollar/s')
€33.02 Thirtythree euros and two cents Thirtythree euros, two cents
Trang 4In the USA, some coins have informal names:
1¢ = a penny 5¢= a nickel 10¢ = a dime 25¢ = a quarter 50¢ = half dollar
Exchange rates
What's the exchange rate for the Dollar?
There are 2.58 Reals to the Dollar
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