The numeral

Test it. Answer the questions. Write the numbers in full.

1. How many minutes are there in two hours? 2. How many kilometers are there in a mile? 3. What is your normal temperature? 4. How much do you weigh? 5. How many cents are there in $2,5? 6. How many days are there in a year? 7. When were you born? 8. What is your telephone number? 9. What is the number of your flat? 10. What is the approximate population of Kazakhstan?

Cardinal numbers

379 = three hundred and seventy nine;

2,860 = two thousand eight hundred and sixty;

5,084 = five thousand and eighty-four;

470,000 = four hundred and seventy thousand;

2,550,000 = two million, five hundred and fifty thousand;

3,000,000,000 = three billion.

NOTE: There is no plural 's' after dozen, hundred, thousand, million and billion when they are part of a number. On their own, they can be plural, thousands of people; millions of insects.

Saying '0'

This can be spoken in different ways in different contexts.

Telephone number: 603 724 = six oh three, seven two four (AmEng = six zero three);

mathematics: 0.7 = naught point seven, 6.02 = six point oh two;

temperature: -10 degrees = ten degrees below zero / minus ten degrees;

football: 2 - 0 = two nil; tennis: 40 - 0 = forty love.

Talking numbers

Here are several useful words and expressions connected with numbers:

The streets have got odd numbers (3, 5, 7) on the left and even numbers (4, 6, 8) on the right.

O rdinal numbers and dates

We write 4 January (or 4th January), but say the fourth of January or January the fourth.

We write 21 May (or 21st May), but say the twenty-first of May or May the twenty-first.

1

Elizabeth

the Second

997 = nineteen ninety seven,

1905 = nineteen hundred and five or nineteen oh five.

Fractions and decimals

1_1/4 = one and a quarter; 1_1/3 = one and a third; 1_1/2 = one and a half; 1 _3/4 = one and three quarters; 1.5 = one point five; 1.25 = one point two five; 1.33 = one point three three; 1.75 = one point seven five;

Percentages

26% = twenty-six per cent.

More than 50% is the majority; less than 50% is the minority.

Arithmetic

There are four basic processes for working out (= calculating) a problem:

+ = addition 6 + 4=10 (six plus/and four equals/is ten)

- = subtraction 6 - 4=2 (six minus four equals/is two) x = multiplication

6 x 4 = 24 (six times/multiplied by four equals/is twenty-four)

- = division 4 - 2=2 (four divided by two equals/is two)

A laska. The biggest state

Here is postcard from Alaska. Read the postcard, and find this information:

1) the length of the coastline

2) the height of the highest mountain

3) the number of lakes

4) the size of the largest glacier

5) the price of the land when it was bought from Russia

6) the date of the purchase

7) the area of the state in square miles

8) the percentage of the U.S. land mass covered by Alaska

* 19 mountains over 14,000 feet * Highest point in North America, Mt. Me Kinley 20,320 feet * More area than the 26 smallest states * Purchased from Russia in 1867 for less than 2 с an acre * Longest days, 24 hours of daylight * Longest nights, 24 hours of night * More than 3 million lakes, larger than 25 acres

* 586,400 square miles * 1/5 the land mass of the entire continental U.S. * More than two times the size of Texas * 29 active volcanoes, half the world's total * More coastline than the lower 48 states, 33,000 miles * More than half the world's glaciers * One glacier larger than Switzer land

Exercise 2. Write these numbers in English.

1) 567 2) 6 1/2 3) 3,267 4) 8.93 5) 0.34 6) 7 1/2 7) 2,359,000 8) 11.06 9) 58% 10) 9 May 11) 3 August 12) 969 64 85 (telephone number) 13) ~3 Centigrade 14) (In) 1907 15) 33 16) 3,000,000,000 17) 7,082 18) 40-0 (the result in a tennis game) 19) 37% 20) 4-1 (the result in a football match)

Exercise 3. Correct the mistakes (if any) in these sentences.

1 The radio said that there were more than ten thousands people taking part in the meeting. 2. She bought two dozens eggs. 3. My birthday is on the twenty-one of March. 4. His telephone number is four six seven, five nought, nine two. 5. There are two hundred fifteen pages in this book. 6, Write down the following: zero point six hundred and twelve plus six point nought two. 7. This is twenty-five per cents of the total. 8. The game ended with the score three nought. 9. The temperature is two degrees below oh. 10. He was born in nineteen eighty-first.

Exercise 4. Translate into English. Write the numbers in full.

1. Он заплатил за это ожерелье (necklace) пятнадцать с половиной тысяч долларов. 2. Подождите полчаса, пожалуйста. Документы скоро будут готовы. 3. Нам нужно спешить. Самолет улетает через полто-Ра часа. 4. Сколько безработных (unemployed) в этом городе? — На сегодняшний день 2338 человек. Джейн купила три дюжины яиц. 6. Он родился 3 октября 1979 года. 7. На митинге присутствовало три тысячи студентов. 8. Тысячи студентов заканчивают колледжи Оксфорда к Кембриджа ежегодно. 9. Миллионы звезд ярко мерцали (spai kle) на черном южном небе. 10, Если тебе нужно вызвать пожарную команду (fire brigade), звони 01. 11. Его состояние (fortune) составляет три миллиона долларов. 12. Одна четверть равна 25-ти процентам. 13. Этот замок (castle) был построен во времена Генриха V. 14. Один дюйм (inch) равен двум с половиной сантиметрам. 15. Эти дома были построены в девяностые годы девятнадцатого века