TEACHING SAYING NUMBERS IN ENGLISH

PART A: INTRODUCTION
I.

Rationale

One of the tasks of English teaching is to help students to use their

knowledge in real life situations. Our everyday English lessons present new
information about grammar or vocabulary which often has importance for
students. Such an approach makes English formal when students study some
grammar and vocabulary in order to get a grade. Is it possible to transform some
parts of the lesson into situations which students can face in their life?
I am writing this paper deriving from my teaching experience. Any secondary
students are certain to know well about numbers in written forms but when
several of my students are asked to tell me their email addresses so that I give
them information or exercises relating to my subject. A few numbers in their
addresses

such

as

,



, … are talked as the year they were born nineteen
ninety five, double seven or ninety four…. The similar situation is telling
telephone numbers, serial numbers, or ID numbers…. Every new school year I


present a snapshot of important features in the general area of numbers whose
rules of reading high school students could not grasp. Its central focus is on the
use – where and when each form may be read or talked appropriately within the
scope of the study on verbal communication. Writing or listening forms of
numbers are merely mentioned in the role of supporting students in their
demand for reading numerals properly.
The data description is mainly taken into account of a number or symbol
that expresses an amount or a quantity, a number used to identify something or
communicate by telephone, fax, etc. The material for research is, therefore, in
the form of language used in different communicative contexts. It is not
concerned with such mathematical calculations, chemistry symbols, scientific
numbers and so on.
- Objective of the study
The main objective of the study is to support high schools students in their
efforts to eliminate a potential source of misunderstandings and mistakes of
saying certain numbers in English so that they are able to receive foreign
information more easily. Additionally, the study aims to help learners of
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English as a foreign language recognize some differences in written forms
between

Vietnamese and British English or between British English and

American English. Further, they can avoid unexpected errors in doing scientific
research.

Moreover, the paper introduces a source of information and

14th , or February 14? Did the runner come in 1, or did he come in 1st in the race?
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This paper researches on how to pronounce numbers, including: ordinal
numbers, fractions, decimals, dates, height, big numbers, telephone numbers,
measurements and even the numbers that appear in the names of Kings and
Queens. It explains the grammar rules we use for saying numbers and sentences
with numbers as well as highlighting some irregularities.
Cardinal and ordinal number:
The numbers one, two, three, four etc., are called cardinal numbers whereas
the numbers first, second, third, fourth etc., are called ordinal numbers.
Ordinal numbers are used before nouns. After a noun, we use cardinal numbers.
the fourth chapter – chapter four
the third act – Act Three
I. 1 Ordinal Numbers
Ordinal numbers are numbers used to referred the position of something, for
example: 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Most of them are formed by adding ‘th’ to the end of
regular numbers, for example: fourth (four-th), sixth (six-th), seventh (seven-th).
However, there are a few irregular ones: first (1st), second (2nd), third (3rd), fifth
(5th), ninth (9th) and twelfth (12th). Here is a list of the ordinal numbers from 1st
to 19th.


1st – first*



2nd – second*


10th – tenth



11th – eleventh



12th – twelfth*



13th – thirteenth …. 19th – nineteenth
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For multiples of ten, the ‘y’ at end of the word changes to ‘ie’ and the suffix
‘eth’ is added. For example, ‘twenty’ becomes ‘twentieth’. Here is a list of the
multiples of ten from 20 to 90:


20th – twentieth
….




90th – ninetieth

Note: You say 100th as ‘one hundredth’.

(AmE: two thousand, eight hundred forty)
 123,000 a hundred and twenty three thousand
Four-figure numbers ending in 00 can also be said or written as a number of
hundreds. For example, 1800 can be said or written as "eighteen hundred"
We do not make hundreds, thousands and millions plural when the number in
front is more than one. For example:
 200 – two hundred
 1000 – one thousand
 5,000 000 – five million
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However, when there is no number in front, we have to add an ‘s’. For example:
 Hundreds of pounds
 Thousands of eggs
 Millions of dollars
When the first figure is 1, we can say other ‘one’ or ‘a’. For example:
 “He lived for a hundred years”
 “You owe me one hundred dollars”
When is a billion not a billion?
In British English billion traditionally means a million million =
1,000,000,000,000 = 1012
In American English billion means a thousand million = 1,000,000,000 = 109
The American billion has become standard in technical and financial use.
However, to avoid confusion it is better to use the terms "thousand million" for
109 and "million million" for 1012.
Milliard " is French for the number 109. It is not used in American English but
is sometimes, but rarely, used in British English.
I. 3 Fractions, ratios and percentages
In order to say a fraction, we say the top number (numerator) as a regular

called ‘one-quarter’ or ‘a quarter’.
 1 ½ – one and a half
 2 ¼ – two and a quarter
Decimals
To pronounce decimals, we use the word ‘point’ for the dot and pronounce
figure by figure. For example:
 0.5 - nought point five (British English) / zero point five (American English)
 0.124 – nought point one two four (British English) / zero point one two four
(American English).
 4.25 – four point two five
 0.67m – nought point six seven metres (or nought point six seven of a metre)
 0.3L – nought point three litres (or nought point three of a litre)
 1.8kg – one point eight kilograms
I. 4 Telephone numbers, serial numbers, registration numbers, box
numbers, E-numbers…
These numbers are pronounced like poems.
Each figure is said separately. There is usually a pause after groups of three or
four figures. If the same figure comes twice, three times British people usually
say “double” or “triple”.
 657 4481 – six five seven, double four eight one (British)
 255 7989 – two double five seven nine eight nine
 657 4481 - six five seven, four four eight one (US)
English speakers often say the letter "oh" for the number "zero". When "oh" is
combined with some numbers, it is difficult to hear. It is recommended to say
"zero" and "double zero".
Example: 237-0980 is usually said as two - three - seven, oh - nine - eight - oh.

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 1900 - nineteen hundred
 1999 - nineteen ninety-nine
If there is a 0 in the ten position, we usually pronounce it ‘oh’. For example:
 1908 – nineteen oh eight

1409 – fourteen oh nine
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For years after 2000, we usually pronounce the whole number:
 2002 – two thousand and two
 2010 – two thousand and ten (a more informal way is to say twenty ten)
I. 7 Flight numbers.
We pronounce a flight number in two parts or digit-by-digit. For example:
 VN 7427 – VN seventy four twenty seven (or seven four two seven)
 VN 1248 – VN twelve forty-eight
 SYD 2503 – SYD twenty-five oh three
 HKG 3050 - HKG three oh five oh (or 'three zero five zero', 'thirty fifty')
I. 8 Height
Height can be said in centimetres or feet.
If we write in feet, a comma comes after the number of feet and quotations
come after the number of inches. For example:
 5’10 – five foot ten or (five feet ten inches)
 6’3 – six foot three or (six feet three inches)
Notice that you can say either ‘foot’ or ‘feet’.
Here are some examples of height in centimetres:
 163cm – one hundred and sixty-three centimetres
 158cm – one hundred and fifty-eight centimetres
I .9 Ways of saying the number 0 (Nought, zero, nil, love, nothing)


0 = oh (or
zero)
for flight
numbers

Depending on the context, we can pronounce zero in different ways: The figure
0 is usually called nought in British English, and zero in American English.

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- We use zero to express some numerical values such as temperatures, taxes,
and interest rates in both British and American English.
- We can pronounce "oh" like the letter "o", when we are reading out numbers
figure by figure such as telephone number, flight number, bus number, room
number, credit card number, ID number, e-mail and Web addresses etc.
e. g. My phone number is ( 0914087833) oh nine one four oh eight seven eight
three three
 Room 101 = Room one oh one.
 Bus 602 = Bus six oh two.
 0C (temperature) = zero degrees
 thuypk1995@gmail. com = thuypk one nine nine five at gmail dot com
Zero scores in team games are called nil. In tennis and similar games, the word
love is used for zero.
I. 10 Time
What's the time?
There are two common ways of telling the time.
Formal but easier way
Say the hours first and then the minutes.
 7:45 - seven forty five

 06:10 - ten past / after six
But: in time expressions with half past it is not usual to replace past by after.
Beside to Americans often use before, of or till.
 05:50 - ten to / before /of / till six

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The chart below shows you two different ways to tell someone what the time is.
Question: What's the time, please?

3.00
3.02
3.03
3.05
3.09
3.10
3.15
3.20
3.21
3.25
3.30
3.35
3.40
3.45
3.50
3.55
3.57
3.58
4.00

three oh five
three oh nine
three ten
three fifteen
three twenty
three twenty-one
three twenty-five
three thirty
three thirty-five
three forty
three forty-five
three fifty
three fifty-five
three fifty-seven
three fifty-eight
four
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I. 11 Roman numerals
Saying Roman numerals is a basic skill that every student needs to
acquire. Roman numerals, though not used in arithmetic, show up in many
places, such as clock faces, chapter headings in books, official documents,
video games and copyright notices. If you watch an old movie and want to
know what year it was made, you will have to decipher the Roman numerals
that appear at the end, such as MCMLVIII. Difficult though they may seem,
Roman numerals are still a part of our culture, and therefore it is necessary to
learn how to read them.
- Years in old documents and on statue inscriptions. If you were reading one of
these out loud, you would say the year as if it were in Arabic numerals. If it is


duo (du-oh)

two
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III

tres (trays)

three

IV

quattuor (kwuht-tu-ohr)

four

V

quinque (kween-kweh)

five

VI

sex (sehks)

six


C

centum (kehn-tum)

one hundred

D

quingenti (kween-gehn-tee)

five hundred

M
mille (mihl-leh)
thousand
You can dictate Roman numerals by saying "Roman numeral" and the number.
I is said Roman Numeral one
IV is said Roman Numeral four
V is said Roman Numeral five
TIP: Don’t pause after the word “Roman Numeral” when you are dictating it.
Below is Roman Numeral
For large numbers, say the number in small combinations (as in the examples
shown here).
WRITE

SAY...

I


XXIV

Roman Numeral twenty four

However, when Kings and Queens have numbers after their names, we
pronounce them as ordinal numbers with the word ‘the’ in front. For example:
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 It was built in the time of Louis XII. (Louis the twelfth)
 Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth the second)
 Henry V (Henry the five)
The case is not similar when we pronounce Chapter VI (chapter six or the
sixth chapter - not chapter the six)
I.12 Letters as Numbers
~k~
The letter k is often used to denote a thousand. So, 1k = 1,000.
If you see a job advertised and it offers a salary of £12k it means £12,000.00.
~m~
The letter m is often used to denote a million. So, 1m = 1,000,000.
If you see a job advertised and it offers a salary of £12m, apply for it!
~ bn ~
The letters bn denote a billion. So, 1bn is usually 1,000,000,000 (see above).
If you see a job advertised and it offers a salary of £12bn, it's probably a
misprint.
II. Writing Numbers
Why do we need to mention writing numbers in this paper?
Teachers of English as a foreign language are generally assumed to develop the
students´ abilities in the language. It is the application of an integrating
approach for the development of learners’ communicative skills, in which the

Given the budget constraints, if all 30 history students attend the four plays,
then the 7 math students will be able to attend only two plays. (Students are
represented with figures; plays are represented with words.)
Incorrect:
I asked for five pencils, not 50.
* Rule 3:
Always spell out simple fractions and use hyphens with them.
Examples:
One-half of the pies have been eaten.
A two-thirds majority is required for that bill to pass in Congress.
*Rule 4:
A mixed fraction can be expressed in figures unless it is the first word of a
sentence.
Examples:
We expect a 5 1/2 percent wage increase.
Five and one-half percent was the maximum allowable interest.

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*Rule 5:
The simplest way to express large numbers is best. Round numbers are usually
spelled out. Be careful to be consistent within a sentence.
Correct:
You can earn from one million to five million dollars.
Incorrect:
You can earn from one million to $5,000,000.
Correct:
You can earn from five hundred to five million dollars.
You can earn from $5 hundred to $5 million.

The meeting is scheduled for June 30.
The meeting is scheduled for the 30th of June.
We have had tricks played on us on April 1.
The 1st of April puts some people on edge.
*Rule 9:
When expressing decades, you may spell them out and lowercase them.
Example:
During the eighties and nineties, the U.S. economy grew.
*Rule 10:
If you wish to express decades using incomplete numerals, put an apostrophe
before the incomplete numeral but not between the year and the s.
Correct:
During the '80s and '90s, the U.S. economy grew.
Incorrect:
During the '80's and '90's, the U.S. economy grew.
*Rule 11:
You may also express decades in complete numerals. Again, don't use an
apostrophe between the year and the s.
Example:
During the 1980s and 1990s, the U.S. economy grew.
*Rule 12:
Normally, spell out the time of day in text even with half and quarter hours.
With o'clock, the number is always spelled out.
Examples:
She gets up at four thirty before the baby wakes up.
The baby wakes up at five o'clock in the morning.

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can help learners remember what they have learned “long term” and assimilate
it deeply into their consciousness, which is considerably very important.
From my practical experience, if we were to teach saying numbers over
again, there would not be any time left to teach the new lesson. Moreover, it is
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not very interesting, either, to hear the same thing in the same way over again.
Younger children have no ideas, but secondary students or gifted students will
quickly get bored with it and soon they want to stop learning. They may get the
idea that the teacher does not have anything new or interesting to teach them.
Over twenty years’ teaching experience, the two major principles for good
review or teaching something new of saying numbers to high school students
are:
1. It should not take up too much time.
2. We should use a variety of games, stories, riddles or video clips for
review to ensure that students do not get tired of it.
A review games, stories, riddles or video clips can be done in as long as 3
minutes each time. The time of warm up, motivation or extension is appropriate
to remind students what they used to learn.
Here are some alternative activities to use in English classroom (all
preparations should be made as closed students’ life as possible.)


What’s number?

This is an activity in which students try to guess the number with three cues
given, If a student can have the answer when the first or the second cue is given,
he / she is a winner.
o It is often used in Math.

What do these signs say?

The aim of this activity is to help students pratice speaking in real context
which they often deal with. The way students make effort to express the signs in
full speech confirm their successful communication beside the answer about the
limit speed number.



Facts of numbers

The aim of this activity motivates students in learning. Teachers should give
a present to stimulate students to think the fact of number in more depth.
For example: How does the number 24/7 read? What does it mean?
If students cannot answer , the teacher supply some suggestion such as this
number is seen at many places such as in front of the mall, at petrol
station …
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Answer: twenty-four seven (24/7) means something available or active at all
times - twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Facts of 100 (Ask students put numbers in the following orally.)
- There are 100 years in a century.
- There are 100 cents in a euro.
- In degrees Celsius, 100 is the boiling temperature of water at sea level.
- One hundred is 1 more than 99 and one less than 101.
- There are two 50s, four 25s and twenty 5s in 100.
- One hundred is also 10 times 10.
- A US 100-dollar note has a portrait of Benjamin Franklin on it.

Same student: “It’s 24!”
2. A visitor at the Royal Tyrell Museum asks a museum employee: "Can you tell
me how old the skeleton of that T-Rex is?"
"It is precisely 60 million and three years, two months, and eighteen days old."
"How can you know that with such precision?!"
"Well, when I started working here, one of the scientists told me that the
skeleton was 60 million years old - and that was precisely three years, two
months, and eighteen days ago..."
3. There was this man by the name of Mr Five.
His lucky number was, not surprisingly, 5.
He was 55 years old, ate 5 times a day, always brought with him $55 in his
wallet and always wore a shirt with 5 pockets.
One day, he saw a horse by the name of Lucky Five was racing.
He bet $5555.55 on the horse.
After 5 hours the results are out.
Sure enough the horse comes in fifth.

Students are required to do something with each activity.
Video clips, audio, songs, materials including written and visual forms … are
interesting teaching aid to contribute to teaching and learning saying numbers.

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They have been designed to meet the learners’ needs, i.e. filling in the teaching
gap and developing the learners’ linguistic and communicative competence.
What activitives or materials are used to teach students to say numbers depends
on the teaching time, the class ability, try to create the context which impresses
students most.
III. The difference in saying pairs of numbers




5’ and 5’’



5/4/2010 written by a British person and 5/4/2010 written by an American

person
 0.5 in British English and 0.5 in American English
 0.05 in British English and 0.05 in American English
 1/4 and 1:4
 90 minutes expressed as hours and 30 minutes expressed as hours
 1/3 and 1/3

1/5h and 1/5

4th and 1/4

2/7 and 2 1/7

 2/3 and 233/234
 080 543 543 said by someone from the UK and the US
 02 134 5892 and 021 345 892
 4322 1105 as a telephone number and a credit card number
 090 22555 and 090 22255
 4:45 and 5:15

4:55 and 5:05

 the short forms of 125 kilograms and 125 kilometres – One hundred and
twenty five kilos (or kg)/ one hundred and twenty five k (or km). “Kilo” is
common, but “k” is idiomatic and the others are rare.
 5’ and 5’’ – Five feet/ Five inches
 5/4/2010 written by a British person and 5/4/2010 written by an American
person – British people write and say it day/ month/ year, so it’s the fifth of
April 2010. Americans write and say it month/ day/ year, so it’s May (the)
four(th) 2010.
 0.5 in British English and 0.5 in American English – British English
speakers say “nought” for zero before a decimal point, so it’s nought point
five. In American English it is zero point five
 0.05 in British and American English – In the UK we usually say “oh” after
a decimal point, so it’s nought point oh five/ zero point zero five. The
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