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Hundreds and thousands
With round numbers between 1,100 and 1,900 they often say ‘eleven hundred, twelve hundred’, etc. instead of ‘one thousand and hundred’, etc.
The reading of 0 (nought, zero, nil, o, love)
The figure 0 is normally read nought [no:t] in Br.E., and zero [zi-erou] in Am.E. It is replaced, in general use, by the negative determiner noor the pronoun none:
There were no survivors from the air disaster.
None of the passengers or crew survived.
In measurements (e.g., of temperature), 0 is called zero:
It’s five degrees below zero.
It’s 0° F (read: zero degrees Fahrenheit).
-8° C (read: eight degrees below zero Centigrade).
When numbers are said figure by figure (e.g., in telephone numbers), 0 is often called [ou] (like the letter o):
My account number is 41326069 (read: four one three two six o six nine).
Nil [nil] or nothing is used in football or other team-games:
Brazil won 4 – 0 (read: four nil/ (to) nothing).
Manchester three, Liverpool nil.
Love is used in tennis and similar games. (This expression is derived from the French l’oeuf, meaning ‘the egg’, presumably because zero is egg-shaped (0):
5 – 0, your service; (read: five – love).
The reading of dates
The year:
When reading or speaking the word hundred may be used but thousand is usually not:
He was born in 1957 (nineteen fifty-seven, or nineteen hundred and fifty-seven).
Years before the Christian era are followed by the letters B.C. (= before Christ). Years after the Christian era may be followed by the letters A.D. (= Anno Domini [Lat.: in the year of our Lord]):
1500 B.C. = fifteen hundred B.C. (in this case it is also possible to say one thousand five hundred B.C)
The days and months:
Though the days and months may be written in different ways:
He was born on 5 May
May 5
5th May
5th of May
May 5th (mostly AmE),
when reading or speaking they use ordinal numerals, so they say:
He was born on May the fifth or the fifth of May
Telling the time
Times of the clock are read out in full as follows:
At 5 at five (o’clock)
At 5.15 at five fifteen, at a quarter past five, at a quarter after five (AmE)
At 5.30 at five thirty, at half past five
At 5.45 at five forty-five, at a quarter to six, at a quarter of six (AmE)
At 5.50 at five fifty, at ten (minutes) to six
At 6.10 at ten (minutes) past six, at ten minutes after six (AmE); at six ten can be used when one is referring e.g. to a timetable.
Fractions
Fractions are read out in full as follows:
Simple fractions are expressed by using ordinal numbers (third/s, fourth/s, fifth/s, etc.):
1/2 (a) half They stayed (for) a half hour / half an hour
1/4 a quarter They stayed (for) a quater of an hour
1/10 a/one tenth a tenth of the population
3/4 three quarters three quaters of an hour
2/3 two-thirdstwo thirdsof the population
11/2 one and a half one and a half hours or an hour and a half
31/5 three and a/one fifth three and a fifth inches
NOTE:
a)the expression one and a half takes a plural noun (e.g. one and a half kilometers);
b)expressions like ¾ hour, 7/10 mile are said ‘three quarters ofan hour, seven tenthsofa mile’.
More complex fractions are often expressed by using the word over: 317/509 – three hundred and seventeen over five hundred and nine.
Decimals are read out in full, with each figure separate.
NOTE:they use a full stop (called ‘point’), not a comma, before the fraction:
2.5 – two point five
3.14 – three point one four (three point fourteen)
0.78 – point seventy-eight (point seven eight) or nought point seventy-eight (US: zero point seventy-eight)
Date: 2015-12-11; view: 986
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