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STUDY NOTES EPISODE 22: FINANCE REPORT

NUMBERS, NUMERALS AND DIGITS

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Understanding numbers, numerals anddigits is an important part of the IELTS test,and may be assessed in any section of thetest.

In the writing test, numbers are used todescribe trends and numerical data ingraphs and charts.

Numbers occur in a variety of different

contexts in the listening, so good comprehension of dates, prices, telephonenumbers, fractions etc. will be necessary. Similarly, the reading test can requirescanning and skimming for specific numerical information, while in the speakingsection, referring to dates, age groups, numerical expressions, is a possibility.

STUDY TIPS

Because comprehension ofnumbers is an important skill whichmay be assessed in any section ofthe IELTS test, regularly practisingsaying and writing numbers,numerals and digits in variouscontexts is helpful, and this will alsobuild your confidence.

Thus, familiarity with numerical words, phrases and expressions, as well as the rulesfor writing numbers is beneficial.

These study notes focus on the most common conventions relating to numbers,numerals and digits.

The following table summarises and focuses on the most common conventions

relating to numbers, numerals and digits.

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NUMBERS, NUMERALS AND DIGITS

FORM AND USE COMMENTSCARDINAL ANDORDINAL

Examples:

Jane is the sixthperson in a queue oftwenty.

The town of Selkirkwill be celebrating its

250th anniversary.

Its Toms eleventhbirthday tomorrow.

By the end of theyear, he will besecond in command.

Cardinal numbers express size, how much,

how many, etc

0 - nought, zero, oh, nil1 - one2 - two3 - three4 - four5 - five6 - six

7 - seven8 - eight9 - nine10 - ten11 - eleven12 - twelve13 - thirteen14 - fourteen15 - fifteen16 - sixteen17 - seventeen18 - eighteen19 - nineteen20 - twenty21 - twenty-one22 - twenty-two23 - twenty-three30 - thirty40 - forty50 - fifty60 - sixty70 - seventy80 - eighty

90 - ninety100 - a hundred500 - five hundred1,000 - a thousand1,000,000 - a million

Ordinal numbers used to indicate dates,

rank or a sequence ofevents

1st - first2nd - second3rd - third4th - fourth5th - fifth6th - sixth

7th - seventh8th - eighth9th - ninth10th - tenth11th - eleventh12th - twelfth13th - thirteenth14th - fourteenth15th - fifteenth16th - sixteenth17th - seventeenth18th - eighteenth19th - nineteenth20th - twentieth21st - twenty-first22nd - twenty-second23rd - twenty-third30th - thirtieth40th - fortieth50th - fiftieth60th - sixtieth70th - seventieth80th - eightieth

90

th

- ninetieth100th - one hundredth500th - five hundredth1,000th - one thousandth1,000,000th - one millionth

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Note the spelling ofnumerals:

9 nine and90 ninety

14 fourteen and40 - forty

DATES

Spoken:

Jane was born on thetwenty-seventh of April,nineteen eighty-eight.

[British and Australian English]

Jane was born onApriltwenty-seventh, nineteeneighty-eight.

[American English]

Written:

Jane was born on 27 April,1988. [British and AustralianEnglish]

Jane was born on April 27,1988. [American English]

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TELEPHONENUMBERS

Spoken grouped into 2s, 3s or

even a larger number,especially if it involveszeros; usually, the

intonation will riseatthe end of the each

group, and fallat theend

Examples:9218 1234 = nine two one

eight one two three

four; ornine two oneeightone twothree

four; 4725 7000 = four

seven two five seven

thousand

British and AustralianEnglish would usedouble and triple

Examples:9218 8688 = nine two oneeight eight six doubleeight; 9563 5666 = nine fivesix three five triple six

North America Englishwould give individualnumbers

Examples:9218 8688 = nine two one

eight eight six eight eight

0 is spoken as the letter

o [o] in British andAustralian English, and

zero ['zro] in NorthAmerican English

Examples:7586 4309 = seven five eightsix four three o nine andseven five eight six four

three zero nine, respectively.

Written telephone numbers can

consist of a number ofparts

Example:

Insearch: UTS+61 2 9218 8600 =

1. an international code,which is usually 00, anddesignated by a + sign;2. a country code [61];

3. area code indicating thestate or province [2];4. local number [92188600]

The different parts areseparated by a space.

mobile numbers aregrouped in a number ofdifferent ways with thefollowing spacing

Examples:

04 02 921 120or

46 821 45 680

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Fractions SPOKEN

Simple fractions:

a quarterThis is a short meeting, sodesignate a quarter of anhourin your diary, please.

a thirdThey ate a third of thecake.

a halfThat glass is half full.

three quartersOnly three quarters of thechoir sang.

one and a quarterIt is a one and a quarterhourdrive to the city.

Complex fractions:one hundred and fifty-two

overfive hundred andseventy-five

With complex fractions usethe word over.

Apart from these, allremaining fractions areexpressed as th and ths.

Examples:one fifth

five sixthsseven tenths

nine tenths

Written

1

152/575

1/55/67/109/10

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DECIMALS SpokenDecimal numbers are read

separately and introducedwith the word point.Examples:

point two fivepoint five

point seven fivetwenty-five point seven two

six point o five(British and Australian

English)

orsix point zero five(North American English)

Decimals with less than oneare read as:

nought point four five(British and Australian

English)naught point four five

(North American English)o point four five

(British and AustralianEnglish)zero point four five

(North American English)With metric units such askilograms, metres or tonnes,the word point is also used:

five point five kilograms/kilos

Written

.25

.5

.7525.72

6.05

0.45

5.5 kg

PRICES Spoken

six (dollars) (and) seventy-five (cents)

three (pounds) (and) thirty(pence/p)

Written

$6.75

3.30

PERCENTAGES Spokenseventytwo percent

[p'sent]three point nine percent

Written72%

3.9%

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EXPRESSING 0 Spoken

nought [nt]British and AustralianEnglish

naught [nt]North American English

Examples:nought point two fivenaught point two five

zero ['zro] Commonly used in

mathematics and fortemperature.Examples:

That sum equals zero.

ten degrees below zero

O [o] Commonly used in

British and AustralianEnglish in telephone

numbers.Example:

Call nine O six four and askfor extension two O

ni l [nl] ornothing Commonly used to

express sports scores.Example:The score for the grand final

was seven nil/seven to

nothing.

love [lv] Used in tennisExample:Their score quickly turnedthirty love.

Written

0

0.25

=0

-10

9064 ext. 20

7-0

30-0

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Rules for WritingNumbers

Spoken

When writing or readingnumbers 100, 1,000 or1,000,000, one ora isused.

Examples:one/a hundred studentsone/a thousand and one

reasonsone/a million dollar lottery

The words hundred,

thousand , million andbillion are singularfollowing both singularand plural numbers orquantifiers.

Examples:three hundred books

several thousand pagesfive million locusts

When the wordshundred, thousand ,

million and billiondenote an indefinitenumber, a plural is used.

Examples:Hundreds of birds came to

nest on the island.There were thousands of

people who came tocelebrate the festival.

Written

100 students1,001 reasons

1,000,000 lottery

300 booksseveral 1,000 pages5,000,000

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Numbers inNumerals or Words

When numbers are one or two words long they arewritten out.

Examples:There were only seven people in the queue.The club had five hundred registered members.

When numbers of three or more words are used, theseshould be expressed as numerals.

Example:The cinemas seating capacity is 275.

Numbers, which begin a sentence, are written out.Example:

Seventy-five percent of the group participated in thediscussion.

If the number at the beginning of the sentence is large,then rephrase the sentence, and use the numeral.

Example:Eight hundred and fifty thousand people were resettledafter the war.Rephrase:The resettlement affected 850,000 people after the war.

Numerals and words should not be mixed in a series

or range.Example:The floral arrangement included 10 roses, 6 sprigs ofbabys breath, and 4 lilies.Only children between the ages of 10 and 15 couldaudition for the part.

decade /'dked/ describes a period of ten yearsExample:The project took a decade to complete.

when expressing a decade in numerals, it should bewritten with an s.

Example:The company experienced record profits in the 1980s and1990s.

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century /'snri/ describes a period of one hundred years

Example:Many great discoveries were made in the 19thcentury.

Note:19th century = 1800 190020th century = 1900 2000

millennium /m'lnim/ describes a period of one thousand yearsExample:Recently, we began a new millennium.

teens /tinz/ describes the period of a persons life between 13 and

19, and by using qualifiers early orlate the time periodcan be further narrowed

Example:They started playing tennis in theirearly teens.

twenties, thirties, fort ies, fifties, sixties, etc. commonly used to describe temperature and age; by

using qualifiers low, mid, and high a particular

temperature range can be specified, while early, midand late qualify a particular time period

Examples:Sydneys temperature during the heat wave was in thehigh thirties.Several of the scientists were in theirearly seventies.

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Prefixes whichindicate Number

Prefix

uni-/mono-(one)

bi-/di-(two)

demi-(half)

semi-(half)

tri-/trio(three)

quad-/tetra(four)

quin-/penta(five)

sex-/hexa(six)

sept-/hepta(seven)

octo-/octa(eight)

nono-/nona(nine)

deci-/deca(ten)

centi-(0.01 of a unit)

milli-(0.01 of a unit)

Examples

unification, monologue,unilateral

bilingual, disyllabic,dioxide, bilateral, dialogue

demigod

semicircle

triangle, tricycletriple

quadrangle, quadruple

pentathlon

sexagenarian, hexagon

September, heptathlon

octopus, octagon

nonagonal

decimal, decade

centipede, centimetre,centilitre

millimetre, milligram,millisecond

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Arabic and RomanNumerals

Arabic numerals

are widely used in almostall contexts, and arepreferred to Romannumerals

Examples:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10etc.

English uses Arabicnumerals

Roman numerals

are limited in their useto such applications as:designating act andscene numbers inplays, numberingintroductory pages inbooks or designatingnumbers of queens,kings, emperors etc.

Examples:

i, ii, iii, iv, v, vi etc.(lower

case)

I, II, III, IV, V, VI etc. (uppercase)

Shakespeares play,Hamlet, act ii , scene v, line125;Queen Elizabeth II