UNIVERSITE DENIS SASSOU-N'GUESSO DE KINTELE

Academic Year 2020 - 2021

Faculté des Sciences Appliquées ( FSA )

English Section
Pedagogical Team: Dr Alphonse Dorien MAKOSSO / Dr Mexan Serge EPOUNDA
Dr Hubert Franck Lylian MASSALA / Dr Léa Blandine MBOUILOU NDOULOU
Dr Simplice Eloge MAHOUNGOU / Dr Armel MBON

ENGLISH NUMBERS AND THEIR COMMON USAGE

Specific Objective: Allowing students as technicians working with numbers in English as they do in French.

Introduction: Most students of a foreign language can count up to a hundred in that language, but if they
hear a number out of context, for example “ nineteen ninety nine, they find it a little bit difficult to remember
quickly what figures the words represent. And if they hear a more unusual number – 543, 632 or 7 5/8 for
instance, they are completely blocked and can‟t register the number at all. Consequently, they need four or
five seconds, even longer to succeed.
Number recognition is an important skill for if you listen to news broadcast, for example, you will probably
hear figures in hundreds, thousands, millions, decimals, percentages and or fractions; not to mention dates,
times, measures and temperatures too.

A- CARDINALS (from 0 to 1 billion): they are commonly used to count persons, animals and things.
Cardinal numbers begin by zero.

0 is read Zero 10 is read Ten 20 is read Twenty 30 is read Thirty

1 is read One 11is read Eleven 21 is read twenty - one 40 is read Forty
2 is read Two 12 is read Twelve 22 is read Twenty- two 50 is read Fifty
3 is read Three 13 is read Thirteen 23 is read Twenty- three 60 is read Sixty
4 is read Four 14 is read Fourteen 33 is read Thirty- three 70 is read seventy
5 is read Five 15 is read Fifteen 44 is read Forty -four 80 is read Eighty
6 is read Six 16 is read Sixteen 55 is read Fifty -five 90 is read Ninety
7 is read Seven 17 is read seventeen 66 is read Sixty - six
8 is read Eight 18 is read Eighteen 77 is read Seventy - seven
9 is read Nine 19 is read Nineteen 88 is read Eighty - eight
99 is read Ninety - nine

Hundreds
100 is read One hundred 109 is read One hundred and nine 189 is read One hundred and eighty- nine
200 is read Two hundred 207 is read Two hundred and seven 237 is read Two hundred and thirty -seven
300 is read Three hundred 403 is read Four hundred and three 488 is read Four hundred and eighty eight
400 is read Four hundred 505 is read Five hundred and five 999 is read Nine Hundred and ninety- nine
500 is read Five hundred 906 is read Nine hundred and six 444 is read Four hundred and forty- four
600 is read Six hundred 610 is read Six hundred and ten 818 is read Eight hundred and eighteen
700 is read Seven hundred 440 is read Four hundred and forty 717 is read Seven hundred and seventeen

Cours conçu par l’équipe pédagogique (Anglais) de l’Université Denis Sassou Nguesso ce 30 janvier 2021 1
 Thousands
1,000 is read One thousand 100,020 is read One hundred thousand and twenty
2,000 is read Two thousand 200,007 is read Two hundred thousand and seven
9,000 is read Nine thousand 102,090 is read One hundred and two thousand and ninety
30,000 is read Thirty thousand 321,000 is read Three hundred and twenty one thousand
40,000 is read Forty thousand 13,800 is read Thirteen thousand and eight hundred
44,000 is read Forty four thousand 33,555 is read Thirty three thousand, five hundred and fifty- five
55,000 is read Fifty five thousand 17,777 is read Seventeen thousand, seven hundred and seventy-
88,000 is read Eighty eight thousand seven
600,000 is read Six hundred thousand 777,899 is read Seven and seventy seven thousand, eight hundred
700,000 is read Seven hundred thousand and ninety- nine
800,000 is read Eight hundred thousand

How to read millions?

3/ hundred and 46 \ millions ,5 /hundred and 21\ thousands, 9 /hundred and 78 \ seventy eight
Three hundred and forty – six million, five hundred and twenty – one thousand, nine hundred and seventy –
eight.
Note :
1– If there are zeros in the figure, you don‟t say them.
Eg: 100, 002 = A hundred thousand and two
100, 020 = A hundred and twenty or one hundred and twenty.
2- In Great Britain, we use a comma (, ) not a (.) for thousands and millions. This is different from the
system in some other countries.
3 – In the American system, the numbers 1100; 1200; 1300; 1400; 1500; 1600; 1700; 1800; 1900; are
sometimes said as eleven hundred, twelve hundred, thirteen hundred, fourteen hundred, etc.
Practice
1-written practice: Say and write these members in full letters.
a) 58,942 ; b) 645,932,461 ; c) 2000,020 d) 461,902,431
e) 729,414,986 f) 333,021,603

2-Oral exercise : Say these numbers as quickly as you can.

88; 43 ; 6; 12; 13; 92; 27; 55; 73; 62; 11; 18; 60; 40; 14
- Can you say these numbers in fluently English ?
12,433,642 ; 2,000,020 ; 333,021,603 ; 729,414,986 ; 461,902,431

B)- Arythmetical Operations

1- Addition (+)
Three plus two equals five
Eg : 3 + 2 = 5 is read Three and two is five

2- Subtraction (-)
Nineteen minus seven is or equals twelve
Eg : 19 - 7 = 12 is read seven from nineteen is twelve

3- Multiplication (x)
Eg : 1 x 5 = 5 is read once five is / equals five
2 x 5 = 10 is read twice five is / equals ten
3 x 8 = 24 is read three times eight is / equals twenty four
8 x 2 = 16 is read eight times two is / equals sixteen

Cours conçu par l’équipe pédagogique (Anglais) de l’Université Denis Sassou Nguesso ce 30 janvier 2021 2
 4- Division (÷)
Ten divided by two is five
Eg : 10 ÷ 2 = 5 is read
Two into ten is five

Oral practice: Work out orally these arithmetical operations

425: 2 ; 444 × 4 ; 52.58 × 2 ; 144 – 60 ;

C) PHONE AND ADDRESS NUMBERS

In British telephone and address numbers, we don‟t say thousand, hundred, or million: we say all the
numbers separately, so 124 4187 is one –two-four, four-one-eight-seven.
„0‟ is pronounced „oh‟ so, 01 423 3289 is oh-one, four-two-three, three-two-eight-nine.
These numbers are in groups: the groups are codes for are as in Britain. When we say the numbers, we pause
between the groups.
Eg: 01 387 9250 ; 628 3941; 0 524 6 38 41
When the same number occurs twice, it can be called „double‟ so, 88 can be eight-eight or double eight.
So, 01 443 6688 can be Oh-one, four-four-three, six-six-eight-eight
or Oh-one, double four-three, double six- double eight
Large offices have an internal telephone system; a telephone number on this system is called an „extension
number‟.

Normally address numbers are also read one after the others. So 187, polydor street is one-eight-seven
polydor street

D) ORDINALS (reading & writing dates in English)

1st till 31st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
Date in Britain can be written:
In numbers only : day / month / year
So 5/1/84 = 5th January 1984 not may 1st 1984
In numbers and words : day / month / year so 19 December 1982
Or month / day / year (December 19th 1982)
when we say the dates, 19/12/1984 can be the nineteenth of December 1984 or December the nineteenth
1984.

Exercise: can you repeat these dates?

a) 6/2/79 b 11/ 12 / 80 c 28/ 02/ 78 d 1/ 01/ 81 e 9/8/ 43 f 14/ 4/ 21 g 23/ 3/ 59

NOTE:
1- There are two systems of year dates in English:
a) The shorter system: the numbers are said in pairs. So 1922 is 19 and 22 (nineteen – twenty two) and
here “o” is said as “oh” so , 1908 is 19 and oh – 8 (nineteen – oh – eight) but 1900, and 1800 are said
nineteen hundred; eighteen hundred, etc.
b) The longer system is similar. Numbers are said in pairs too, but between the pairs we say hundred
and. So, 1922 is nineteen hundred and twenty two. In this case “o” is not said. So, 1908 is said
nineteen hundred and eight. And 1900, 1800 are the same.

Exercise: Practice saying these year dates in the two systems.

1900 ; 1901 ; 1902 ; 1910 ; 1911 ; 1920 ; 1922 ; 1970 ; 1980 ; 1981

Cours conçu par l’équipe pédagogique (Anglais) de l’Université Denis Sassou Nguesso ce 30 janvier 2021 3
 2- A hundred years is a Century, ten years is a Decade.
Sometimes we talk about early nineteenth century (1801 – about 1830); the mid nineteenth century (from
about 1830 to about 1870); and the late nineteenth century ( from about 1870 to 1900)
1801 – 1900 the nineteenth century; 1901 – 2000 the twentieth century
In the same way, we can say the early sixties, the mid – fifties, and the late seventies. The nineteen – sixties
or nineteen - fifties are written sometimes as the 1960’s , the 1950’s
1960 – 1969 the nineteen – sixties (or the sixties
1970 – 1979 the nineteen - seventies (or the seventies).

E) DECIMAL NUMBERS
In decimal numbers, an “0” has two names. If it comes before the decimal point, it‟s called nought and
after the point is called “oh”.
In French (, ) comma marks the decimal point but in English we use point (.)
So, 9.7 is read Nine point seven
0.1 Nought - point - one
0.01 Nought - point- oh - one
0.001Nought - point - oh - oh - one
1.1 One point one
1.123 One point one – two- three

Numbers before the decimal point are said normally, one, two, twenty – three, six hundred.
But after the point, we say each number by itself. We don‟t say hundred or thousand. So, 22.22 is Twenty -
two - point - two - two.
We use decimal for larger number when we want to give the approximate figure. So, 4, 218, 939 is rounded
down 4.2 million and 4, 250 , 000 is rounded up 4.3 million.
The rounding down “or” the rounding up is a process by which a figure is made smaller or larger to the
nearest convenient unit.
Practice I: Write these numbers in figures:
Numbers Figures (Answers) Numbers Figures (Answers)
1- three point two four 6- eighteen point three five six
2- seven point eight one 7- two point oh oh five
3- thirteen point four six 8- one point oh five
4- twenty-five point one three 9-Nought point six six
5- nine point oh one 10- Nought point oh one

Practice II: Reed out these numbers:

Numbers Numbers
A- 7.62 H- 6.215
B- 4.55 I- 8.402
C- 3.33 J- 0.005
D- 25.46 K- 0.109
E- 15.18 L- 16.386
F- 1.12 M- 12.12
G- 2.354 N- 0.01

Cours conçu par l’équipe pédagogique (Anglais) de l’Université Denis Sassou Nguesso ce 30 janvier 2021 4
NOTE: How to read Fractions in English
1/2 is read One half or A half 2/3 is read Two-thirds or two over three
1/3 is read One third or A third 3/4 is read Three – quarters or three over four
1/4 is read One fourth or A fourth 3/10 is read Three-tenths or four over ten
1/5 is read One fifth or A fifth 4/12 is read Four-twelfths or four over twelve
1/6 is read One sixth or A sixth 4/5 is read Four- fifths or four over five
1/7 is read One seventh or A seventh 5/6 is read Five- sixths or five over six
1/8 is read One eighth or A eighth 6/7 is read Six –sevenths or six over seven
1/9 is read One ninth or A ninth 3/8 is read Three- eighths three over eight
1/10 is read One tenth or A tenth 4/9 is read four- ninths or four over nine
1/12 is read One twelfth or A twelfth 7/10 is read seven – tenths or seven over ten
1/17 is read One seventeenth or A seventeenth 21/2 is read two and- a half or two over a half
1/30 is read One thirtieth or A thirtieth 33/4 is read Three and-three quarters or three
over three quarters
1/100 is read One hundredth or A hundredth 67/8 is read six and -seven eighths or six over
seven eighths
Operations with Fractions:
A = 4/16 = 1/4 B = 2/16 = 1/8 C = 1/16 = 1/16
A+B = 1/4 + 1/8 = 2/8 + 1/8 = 3/8
A+B +C = 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 = 4/16 + 2/16 + 1/16 = 7/16

Another way of saying fractions is to say A over B.

For example, 1/4 can be 1 over 4 ; 2/5 can be two over five but this is very practical for large digits
(chiffres). So , 249/ 682 is usually said 249 over 682.

F- Measures in English
There two systems used for measuring in Great Britain: the old-fashioned Imperial system which is
progressively replaced by the metric system. The old-fashioned Imperial system uses expressions such as
feet, yards, miles to measure the Length; pints or gallons for Capacity; ounces or pounds for Weight, etc.
The metric system however uses millimetres, centimetres, metres or kilometres to measure the Length;
grams, kilograms and tons for weight… etc.

1- Length , Height and Width

There are three common ways of expressing measures of things:

centimetres long
1- This thing is 2 metres high
kilometres wide or deep.

length centimetres
It is also possible to say: This thing has a height of 2 metres
width, or depth kilometres.

length centimetres
It is also possible to say: the height of This thing is 2 metres
width, or depth kilometres

Example:
This ruler is 1 metre long. / The length of this ruler is 1 meter. / This ruler has a length of 1 meter.

Practice I: Describe a house / a box / a bridge using the words length; Width and Height .
Practice II: Translate into English.
1- l‟homme le plus grand au monde, Robert Wadlow des Etas unis d‟Amérique, était grand de 272 cms
à sa mort. Ses pieds étaient long de 44 cms, ses mains 32.5 cms, et ses bras 2.88 mètres.
2- La plus grande femme au monde, Jane Bunford avait une taille de 231 cms.
3- L‟adulte le plus court au monde était une Hollandaise appelée Pauline Musters. Elle avait à sa mort
Cours conçu par l’équipe pédagogique (Anglais) de l’Université Denis Sassou Nguesso ce 30 janvier 2021 5
 juste une taille de 59 cm.
4- Jusqu‟à un passé récent, le plus grand immeuble au monde était le Sears Tower à Chicago. Il a 110
étages, une hauteur de 443 mètres, et une superficie de 408,760 mètres carrés. Si vous prenez aussi
en compte les deux antennes TV placéés au plafond de ce bâtiment, sa hauteur totale est de 475.18
mètres.

2-Area: Here, we use expressions such as Cm2 (Square Centimetre), m2 (Square metre) or Km2 (Square
Kilometre).
For example if a field has two hundred metres long and fifty metres wide, it has an area of ( ten thousands
square metres). In fact, for a such a geometric shape, Area = Length Width. So, 50 m 200 m
2
10,000 m
Practice I: Look these figures and say them in English as quickly as you can.
423 km2 ; 4.5 cm2 ; 97 m2 ; 660.32 m2 ; 100,598 cm2
3-Volums: Here, we use expressions such as cubic centimeter (cm3), cubic meter (cm3), …..
4-Some important details in Mathematics vocabulary
English French English
French
accolades Braces Analyse / Calcul calculus
mathématiques)
abscisse (d‟un point) x-coordinate arrondir par défaut / par to round down / up
excès)
axe des abscisses x-axis au moins at least
axe (m) horizontal horizontal axis axe (m) vertical vertical axis
base de données data base base (f) rationnelle rational base
axe des ordonnées y-axis au plus at most
borne Bound chiffre digit
borné Bounded chiffres significatifs significant figures
(in)dénombrable (un)countable développement décimal decimal representation
développer to expand élever au carré/cube to square/to cube
(sous-)ensemble (sub)set entier naturel natural number or
nonnegative integer
entier relatif whole number fraction irréductible simple fraction, fraction
in lowest terms
équerre set square identifier, étiqueter to label
intersection intersection, meet reciprocal
(d‟ensembles)
membre de droite right / left hand side Dégré Celsius °C Degree Celsius or degree
/gauche (dans une centigrade: 5°C, 90°C,
équation) 50°C, 30°C, 75°C, 25°C
nul Null ordonnée (d‟un point) y-coordinate
opposé additive inverse ordre croissant ascending or increasing
order
ordre décroissant descending or decreasing parenthèses brackets
order
partie subset, part rapport ratio
simplifier (une fraction) to cancel système d‟équations simultaneaous equations
or equation system
tableau table, array tableur spreadsheet

décimal decimal
pair even
nombre impair odd number
Premier prime
rationnel rational
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Selected Bibliography: (this list is not exhaustive. students have to complete it by making on-line research)
1-Steve Elsworth, Count Me In: Understanding Numbers in English, London: Longman, Eighth Impression,
1990.
2-Tom Hutchinson and Alan Waters, Interface: English for Technical Communication, London: Longman,
sixth Impression 1989.
3-Lynette Beardwood, Hugh Templeton, Martin Webber, A First Course in Technical English, London:
Heinemann educational Books, 1978.
4-Biliana Dimic Kay Rold, Looking Forward, Paris: Edition Berlin, 2003.
5- New on Target 1ère, Paris: Edition Berlin, 2011.
6-Martin Webber, Elementary Technical English: Students’ book, Hong Kong: Thomas Nelson and Sons
Ltd, 1983.

Cours conçu par l’équipe pédagogique (Anglais) de l’Université Denis Sassou Nguesso ce 30 janvier 2021 7