B) Complete the following table of statistics. Fill in the missing percentage using figures from the box.

68% 62% 60% 52% 30% 25% 20% 14% 10%

What the nation does at bath time:

	Read	_____
Drink coffee	31%
Sing	_____
Drink alcohol	_____
Talk on the phone	_____
Clip their toe-nails	16%
Prefer baths to showers	_____
Listen to music	53%
Dream	_____
Watch TV	_____
Have sex	4%
Wash hair	_____
Wash the dog	_____
Play with children’s toys	4%

C) Re-phrase these statistics using fractions in your answer.

Example:

31% drink coffee in the bath. Just under a third drink coffee in the bath.

1.	25% drink alcohol. _____________________________________________________________
2.	53% listen to music. _____________________________________________________________
3.	20% watch TV. _____________________________________________________________
4.	60% prefer baths to showers. _____________________________________________________________
5.	10% wash the dog. _____________________________________________________________
6.	62% wash their hair. _____________________________________________________________
7.	30% sing. _____________________________________________________________

Numbers

Cardinal numbers

These numbers are often confused. Notice that if we pronounce them singly, the stress changes.

16, 60	sixteen, sixty
17, 70	seventeen, seventy

In British English we say and before the tens in large numbers. This is left out in US English.

	four hundred (and) sixty-five
	seven hundred (and) one

A comma is often written to separate the thousands in numbers over 999.

3,986

three thousand nine hundred and eighty-six

We sometimes say a instead of one in large numbers.

1,000,000

a million

British and US English differ in the pronunciation of these very large numbers.

1,000,000,000	a thousand million (British English) a billion (US English)
1,000,000,000,000	a billion (British English) a trillion (US English)

However, many British companies are now adopting the US usage, so if in doubt, check.

Some British newspapers have started to adopt the European term milliard to refer to a thousand million, but many British people are still unfamiliar with the term.

Long numbers

In long numbers such as phone, fax, bank account, or credit card numbers, we pronounce the figures individually.

seven two oh, eight double four

We generally group the numbers in threes, rather than in twos as is common in Europe.

seven two oh / eight double four

Money

Although the money signs are written in front of the numbers, we generally say them after the numbers.

FF56	fifty-six French francs
$4m	four million dollars
¥92bn	ninety-two billion yen

Do not make this common mistake:

Ninety-two billions of yen

We pronounce years in two halves.

nineteen ninety-six

But we pronounce the year two thousand whole.

two thousand and one

Dates

In British English the and of are spoken but not written.

25^th April 1954

The twenty-fifth of April, nineteen fifty-four or April the twenty-fifth, nineteen fifty-four

In US English the date is generally written with the month first and the date second. The and of are not usually used in the spoken form.

May 16 1996

May sixteenth, nineteen ninety-six

This can lead to misunderstandings when dates are given in figures only.

10.12.1995

The tenth of December nineteen-ninety-five (British English)

October twelfth, nineteen ninety-five (US English)

Times

A simple way to tell the time is to say the numbers.

7.30 3.45 1.20

seven thirty three forty-five one twenty

Alternatively, you can say:

Half past seven, a quarter to four, twenty past one

In US English, you can choose between two different prepositions.

Half past / after seven, quarter to / of four, twenty past / after one

We do not usually use the twenty-four hour clock unless we are talking about plane or train timetables.

14.00

The meeting is at two o’clock The train leaves at fourteen hundred hours

Fractions

½ ¾ 1^2/3

a half three-quarters one and two-thirds

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