Rules: 1. The British English system goes like this: a. Units; e.g.

1 = 'one'; "A postage stamp for a letter to a Hong Kong address costs less than nine dollars" . b. Tens; e.g. 10 = ten; 13 = 'thirteen'; 14 = fourteen; 40 = 'forty' (not 'fourty') 44 = 'forty-four' ; "A meal for one person in a fast-food restaurant costs about twentyfive dollars". c. Hundreds; e.g. 100 = 'one hundred'; 999 = 'nine hundred and ninety-nine' ; "Valentine's Day dinner costs hundreds of dollars". d. Thousands; e.g. 1,000 = 'one thousand'; 8,765 = 'eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty-five' ; "My new mobile phone cost over two thousand dollars". e. Ten(s) of thousands; e.g. 10,000 = ten thousand (); 98,765 = 'ninety-eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty-five' ; "After ten years of working experience I expect my salary to be over twenty thousand dollars". f. Hundred(s) of thousands; e.g 100,000 = 'one hundred thousand' (); 987,654 = nine hundred and eighty-seven thousand, six hundred and fifty-four' ; "My father's car cost over one hundred thousand dollars". g. Millions; e.g. 1,000,000 = 'one million' (); 9,876,543 = 'nine million, eight hundred and seventy-six thousand, five hundred and forty-three' ; "My parents' flat cost over two million dollars". h. Tens of millions; e.g. 10,000,000 = 'ten million' (); 98,765,432 = 'ninetyeight million, seven hundred and sixty-five thousand, four hundred and thirty-two' . "A luxury flat on the Peak costs over ten million dollars". i. Hundreds of millions; e.g. 100,000,000 = 'one hundred million' (); 987,654,321 = 'nine hundred and eighty-seven million, six hundred and fifty-four thousand, three hundred and twenty-one' ; "A large company's turnover can be several hundred million dollars". j. Billions; e.g. 1,000,000,000 = 'one billion'; 9,876,543,210 = 'nine billion, eight hundred and seventy-six million, five hundred and forty-three thousand, two hundred and ten' ; "The turnover on the Hong Kong stock exchange is over a billion dollars every day". Note: in British English one billion used to be 1,000,000,000,000, but now the American system is commonly used, so one billion = one thousand million.

k. Trillions; e.g. 1,000,000,000,000 = 'one trillion'; 9,876,543,210,987 = 'nine trillion, eight hundred and seventy-six billion, five hundred and forty-three million, two hundred and ten thousand, nine hundred and eighty-seven' ; "The Gross National Product (GNP) of some advanced countries is over one trillion dollars each year". 2. The commas go every 3 digits, starting from the right; e.g. 1,000,000,000 3. In writing, the commas are in the same places as the commas in the numbers. 4. The word 'and' comes after the word 'hundred', if the digits before the next comma are not 00; e.g. 100 = 'one hundred'; 110 = 'one hundred and ten'; 101 = 'one hundred and one'. 5. Do not use plurals in exact numbers; e.g. 'two million'. Only use plurals for inexact numbers; e.g. "Company turnover was hundreds of millions of dollars".