HOW NUMBERS ARE SPOKEN
Numbers over 20 | |
21 | twenty-one |
22 | twenty-two |
32 | thirty-two |
99 | ninety-nine |
Numbers over 100 | |
101 | a/one hundred (and) one |
121 | a/one hundred (and) twenty-one |
200 | two hundred |
232 | two hundred (and) thirty-two |
999 | nine hundred (and) ninety-nine |
Note: In British English the ‘and’ is always used: two hundred and thirty-two. But in American English it is often left out: two hundred thirty-two. |
Numbers over 1000 | |
1001 | a/one thousand (and) one |
1121 | one thousand one hundred (and) twenty-one |
2000 | two thousand |
2232 | two thousand two hundred (and) thirty-two |
9999 | nine thousand nine hundred (and) ninety-nine |
Ordinal Numbers | |
20th | twentieth |
21st | twenty-first |
25th | twenty-fifth |
90th | ninetieth |
99th | ninety-ninth |
100th | hundredth |
101st | hundred and first |
225th | two hundred (and) twenty-fifth |
Dates | |
1624 | sixteen twenty-four |
1903 | nineteen-oh-three |
1987 | nineteen eighty-seven |
WHAT NUMBERS REPRESENT
Numbers are often used on their own to show: | ||
Price | It cost eight seventy-five (=8 pounds 75 pence or 8 dollars 75 cents: £8.75 or $8.75). | |
Time | We left at two twenty-five (=25 minutes after 2 o’clock). | |
Age | She’s forty-six (=46 years old). | He’s in his sixties (=between 60 and 69 years old). |
|
Size | This shirt is a thirty-eight (=size 38). | |
Temperature | The temperature fell to minus fourteen (=–14°). | The temperature was in the mid-thirties (=about 34–36°). |
|
The score in a game | He won the first set six-three (=by six games to three: 6–3). | |
Something marked with the stated number | She played two nines and an eight (=playing cards marked with these numbers). | |
A set or group of the stated number | The teacher divided us into fours (=groups of 4). | You can buy cigarettes in tens or twenties (=in packets containing 10 or 20). |
NUMBERS AND GRAMMAR
Numbers can be used as: | |||
Determiners | Five people were hurt in the accident. | the three largest companies in the US | several hundred cars |
||
Pronouns | We invited a lot of people but only twelve came/only twelve of them
came. | Do exercise five on page nine. |
||
Nouns | Six can be divided by two and three. | Three twos make six. |
IN TEXT MESSAGES
1 | a way of writing ‘one’, for example SUM1 (=someone) |
2 | a way of writing ‘to’ or ‘too’: Happy birthday 2 U! (=to you) | He’s 2 (=too) cool! |
4 | a way of writing ‘for’: a message 4 U (=for you) |
8 | a way of writing parts of words that sound like ‘-ate’, ‘eat’,
or ‘-ait’: gr8 (=great) | I h8 (=hate) homework! | It’s 2 l8 (=too late) |