-- -- THE NUMERAL I General survey 49

s hundreds, thousands, mil-

Thei r corre spon ding hom onym ous noun
ly convey the idea of a large,
. do not express precise number, they mere
:~
0
;:fin itenumber, and are used in the plural follo
Hundreds of people
wed by the preposition of:

Millions of pounds
ium.
THE NUMERAL There were thousands of people in the stad
dozen(= 12) and score(= 20)
····· ···· ·· ····· ·· ···· ·· ··· ······· ······ ···· Similarly, whe n expressing exact number,
···· ····· ·· ······· ·· ·· ··· ·· ··· ···· ·· ·· ·· ·· ···· ······ ···
have no plural form :
/ boug ht two dozen eggs yesterday.
born.
Fourscore years ago, my grandmother was
GENERAL SURVEY The plural form s of these words deno
te a large num ber:
I've been there dozens/scores of times.
ting exact num ber or orde r. Ac-
The num eral is a part of speech deno An inde finite num ber is also expresse
d by the plural forms - twenties,
thre e, etc.) and ordin al (first, seco nd, d between 20 and 29, 30 and 39, 40
cord ingly, ther e are cardinal (one, two, thirties, etc to deno te an age or a perio
th ird, fourt h, etc.) numerals.
num eral is/ numerus and 49, etc:
The word numeral origi nate s from Latin She was in her early/mid/late thirties.
num eral .
meaning 'num ber' ➔ French, English He was in his early/mid/late teens.
or an adje ctive in a sentence : comedies.
The numeral may func tion like a noun In the 1920s thes e plays were called musical
Seven is a lucky num ber (sub ject) . The book was published in the seve nties .
ibute ) and she's expect- pound figure, in BrE it is neces-
They've already got five child ren (attr When writi ng in words or reading a com
ing a sixth (obje ct). but this is unusual in AmE :
sa ry to use and befo re the last word ,
(pre dica tive) .
The British runn er was tent h in the race 325 - thre e hundred and twen ty five (BrE)
of grea t change
The eigh teen th cent ury was a cent ury three hundred twenty-five (AmE)
ty-nine (BrE)
(attr ibute ). 6,42 9 - six thousand four hundred and twen
mal. Cardinal num bers from 1 six thou sand four hundred twenty-nine (AmE
)
The English numerical system is deci ,
en and twel ve, now simp le numerals , com mas (not full stops) are used
(one) to 10 (ten) are root words. Elev NOTE th at, whe n writt en in numbers
ning 'one over ten' and 'two over ten',
are historically com poun d word s mea to separate thousands.
eithe r deriv ative s (fifte en, sixty) or corresponding cardinal num er-
respectively. All the othe r numerals are Ordinal numerals are deriv ed from the
e (twe nty-five, ten thou sand ). Numer-
com poun ds beginning with twen ty-on als by adding the suffix -th (eth) beginnin
g with four :
) are form ed by the suffi x -teen, eg:
als from 13 (thir teen ) to 19 (nine teen four th
seve ntee n - of seven and ten, etc. four
sixteen is a com bina tion of six and ten, h twen ty twen tieth
ty) are form ed by the suffi x -ty, whic
Numerals from 20 (twe nty) to 90 (nine third are exceptional in form .
means six tens, eigh ty mea ns eigh t The ordin al num erals first, second and
aga in is a modification of ten, eg: sixty suffix. The ordinals first and second are
the other. In Georgian, how ever , sixty They do not emp loy the usual ordin al
tens, ie t he first com pone nt mod ifies inals one and two. The ordin al third
is
1
s three twenties, and eigh ty is four twen ties. not related etym olog icall y to the card ars also
mod ified root thir whic h appe
on are always used in the singu- formed by adding the suffix -d to the
The ~umerals hundred, thousand, milli thirt y. Note the follo wing spelling rules :
bers : in the cardinals thirteen and
lar fo llow ing both singular and plural num y into i before the suffix
100 one/ a hundred a. Cardinal numerals ending in -y change
-eth :
1,000 one/ a thousand
twen ty twen tieth
6,000,000 six million
 ......-
so SECTION I Theory • Morphology
THE NUMERAL I General survey 51
fifty fiftieth
b. Cardinal numerals five and twelve change v into f and drop e cardinals Ordinals
before the suffix -th: nought (zero)
0
five fifth
one 1st first
twelve twelfth 1
two 2nd second
c. eight adds only h, nine drops e before the suffix -th: 2
eight eighth 3 three 3rd third
nine ninth 4 four 4th fourth
When ordinal numerals are expressed in figures, the last two letters of five 5th fifth
5
the written numeral must be added. Note that these two letters are usually
6 six 6th sixth
written on the same line as the figure :
7 seven 7th seventh
first 1st
second 2nd 8 eight 8th eighth
third 3rd 9 nine 9th ninth
fourth 4th
10 ten 10th tenth
twentieth 20th
11 eleven 11th eleventh
Ordinal numerals expressed by Roman figures are used for titles of
kings and queens, for dates on monument s, and special pagination of the 12 twelve 12th twelfth
introductor y pages of some books. Ordinal numerals are generally preceded 13 thirteen 13th thirteenth
by the definite article. With titles of kings and queens in Roman figures the
14 fourteen 14th fourteenth
is not written but it should be read.
15 fifteen 15th fifteenth
Henry VIII Henry the Eighth
Elizabeth II Elizabeth the Second 16 sixteen 16th sixteenth
NOTE that, unlike Georgian, English prefers cardinal numerals after cer- 17 seventeen 17th seventeenth
tain nouns, eg: volume 2 (BoMMO ~Mao) - chapter 5 (8ob'ZJ010 01030) - part 18 eighteen 18th eighteenth
2 (6060~0 aof'1MO) - page 10 (800010 o30MQ?O) - room 6 (M010bn Bood3Go),
19 nineteen 19th nineteenth
There are cases, however, when with one and the same noun an ordi-
20 twenty 20th twentieth
nal numeral is used initially and a cardinal numeral follows the noun:
21 twenty-one 21st twenty-first
the First World War/ World War One
the Second World War/ World War Two 22 twenty-two 22nd twenty-second
the First Division/Division One (used in football) 23 23rd twenty-third
twenty-thre e
the Second Division/Division Two
24 twenty-fou r 24th twenty-fou rth
the Third Division/ Division Three
25 twenty-five 25th twenty-fifth
The following table clearly shows the systematic nature of English
numerals: 26 26th twenty-sixth
twenty-six
27 twenty-seven 27th twenty-seventh
28 t wenty-eigh t 28th twenty-eighth
29 twenty-nin e 29th twenty-ninth
30 thirty 30th thirtieth
 ►
THE NUMERA L I General survey
52 SECTION I Theory • 53
Morphology
car num bers are usu ally read
fort ieth figu re by figure, sometim es the
fort y 40th last two
40 are rea d toge ther :
50th fiftie th figu reS
so fifty UPE lBBF UPE one eigh t eigh t F
60th sixtieth
60 sixty
seventieth UPY 605 UPY six oh five
70 seventy 70th
CPU 473 one CPU fou r seven three (or)
80th eightieth 1
80 eighty
ninetieth one CPU fou r seventy three
90 ninety 90th
r wo iden tica l num ber s are read
100th (one) hundredth as Jour-four' or Jort y-fo ur' on
100 a/one hundred car
(one) hundred and num ber plat es (AmE car lice nce
101 a/one hundred and one 101st plates).
first d. nil [nll) or not hin g in spo
rts. AmE agai n pref ers zero.
(one) hundred and The resu lt of the mat ch was 4-0
a/one hundred and two 102nd (fou r (goals to) nil).
102 Brazil won 4-0 (fou r nil/( to) noth
second ing).
two hundredth In ten nis, tab le tenn is and sim
two hundred 200th ilar games, the wor d love (1/\v)
200 n,on . Love com es from the Fren is com-
a/one thousand 1,000th (one) thousandth ch l'oeuf, meaning 't he egg', pres
1,000 umably
a/one thousand and 1,00 lth (one) thousand and because o is egg-shaped:
1,001 Federer is win nig the game 30-0
one, etc first, etc. (thi rty-love).
ten thousand 10,000th ten thousandth 2. Dates
10,000 Whe n deal ing with dates, Briti
a/one hundred thousand (one) hundred sh and America n differences sho
100,000 100,000th uld be
thousandth carefu lly obs erve d:
1,000,000th The seventh of February, Februar
1,000,000 a/one million (one) millionth y the seve nth (BrE);
February the seventh, Februar y
seven, February seventh
(AmE).
Whe n date s are writ ten com plet
ely in figures, British peo ple put
Numerals have a wid e range of the
usage, but we shall dwe ll on day first , Ame rica ns put the mon
som e th first :
points only : 5.6.199 8 in BrE is the fi fth of June
, but in AmE it is the sixth of May
1. The symbol O generally has .
diffe rent spoken form s acc ordi The num ber s of years are usu ally
ng to the said in two halves:
sphere of usage. It is ofte n calle
d 821 eigh t twe nty- one
a. nought (naught) [nJ:t] in mat
hem atic s: .03 = poin t nou ght thre
e. 905 nine oh five
AmE uses zero instead of nought.
190 5 nineteen oh five
b. zero ['ziarau) - for tem pera 199 8 nineteen nine ty-e ight
ture :
It's five degrees below zero (-5°) 200 5 twe nty oh five /two thousan
d (and) five
c. oh [au], when numbers are It is inte rest ing to not e tha t date
said figu re by figu re, as in ban s such as l lOOAD ... lSOOAD ... 190
counts, telephone numbers, dec k ac- are read by hun dre ds: eleven 0 AD
imal num bers , etc.: hun dre d ... fifte en hun dred ... nine
dred. But 200 0 is read as two tho teen hun··
My account number is fou r one thre usa nd, 200 1- two thousand and
e two six oh six nine one .
(41326069). As fo r BC it is mor e com mon to
use thou san ds w hen date s are
Her telephone number is nine thre rem ote:
e oh fou r five one (930 451 ). 350 0 BC thre e thou san d five hun
Telephone numbers like 399 072 dred
2 can be said in two ways in BrE 290 0 BC two thou san d nine hun
: dred
three nine nine oh seven two two
Wit h date s clos er to AD the re
three double nine oh seven double are two readings:
two 190 0 BC one thou san d nine hun dred/ nine
The latter usage is unusual in AmE teen hundred
.
 e
54 SECTION Theory • Morphology
THE NUMERAL I General survey 55
1500BC one thousand jive hundred/fifteen hundred
one thousand one hundred/eleven hundred MULTIPLICATION
1100 BC
In small calculations, it is most common to say three fours (3x4), four
3. Mathematics
a. Proper fractions have a cardinal number as the numerator and nine 5 ( 4 x9) , etc. Are is used for = :
.
. ~ 6x7=42 six sevens are forty-two .
ordinal number as the denominator.
If the numerator is more than one, the denominator takes the plural In larger calculations times is used for x, and is or makes for= :
form : 17x381=6477 seventeen times three hundred and eighty-one
1/ 2 a half, one half is/makes six thousand, four hundred and seventy-seven.
1/ 8 an/ one eighth In more formal style multiplied by and equals are typical :
3/ 7 three sevenths 17 multiplied by 381 equals 6477.
15/ 9 one and five ninths
DIVISION
More complex fractions are often said by using the word over:
It is common to use divided by for: , and is or equals for = :
317/ 509 three hundred and seventeen over five hundred and nine.
27:3=9 twenty-seven divided by three is/equals nine.
b. Decimal fractions are said figure by figure. A full stop (called
But in smaller calculations, it is often said: three into nine goes three
'point'), not a comma, is used before the fraction:
times.
0.5 nought point five
The following example of a spoken calculation may be of interest:
zero point jive
o point five 146
point five 281
3.14 three point one four 29200
c. Calculations
11680
ADDITION
146
In small additions and is used for+, and is or are for = : 41026
2+2=4 two and two is/are four. A hundred and forty-six times two hundred and eighty-one.
5+5=ll six and five is/are eleven. Put down two noughts.
Both is and are can be us d · 11
ing of th • d . .d e ,n a cases, depending whether one is t hink- Two sixes are twelve, put down 2 and carry 1; two fours are
e in ,v,
ual elements of the addition, or the final figure calculated. eight and one are nine; two ones are two.
In larger additions (a d · (Next line) Put down one nought.
equals or is for= . ' n ,n more formal style) plus is used for + and
Eight sixes are forty-eight; put down 8 and carry 4; eight fours
712+145=857 seven h d d are thirty-two and four is thirty-six; put down 6 and carry 3;
fort . . un re and twelve plus a hundredand
y-five is/equals eight hundred and fifty-seven eight ones are eight and three is eleven.
SUBTRACTION (Next line) One times 146 is 146.
(the addition) Six and nought and nought is six; eight and four
In small numbers it is commo
or seven take from four ;· n to say four from seven leaves/is three, and nought is twelve; put down 2 and carry 1; six and two are
1
style) minus is used for - eavdes is three. In larger numbers (and more formal eight and one is nine and one is ten; put down O and carry 1;
' an equals for= • nine and one are ten and one is eleven; put down 1 and carry
857-145=712 eight hundred . . 1; two and one are three and one are four.
and forty-five a nd fifty-seven minus a hundred
equals seven hundred and twelve. (Total} forty-one thousand and twenty-six.
 • Morphology
I Theory
56 SECTION

. Mathematic . al Terms
-
Other Basic

x2 x squared
x3 x cubed f
xx x to the power o x
Vx the square root of x
Vx the cube root of x
ratio 2:1 two to one . hh
3
8 X 10 X eight by ten by three e,g t 5
8
4
· Measurements . .
1 .inch ('in ) -_ 25·4 m1ll1metres (mm) = 2.54 centimetres (cm)
12 inches = 1 foot = 30.48 cm
3 feet (ft)= 1 yard (yd) = 91.44 cm
1760 yards= 1 mile= 1.61 kilometres (km)
1 ounce (oz) = 28.35 grams (g)
16 ounces= 1 pound (lb)= 0.4S4 kilograms (kg)
14 pounds (14 lbs)= 1 stone (st)= 6.3S6 kg
1 pint (pt)= 0.S7 litres= 1.20 pints (USA)
s. Money 8 pints= 1 gallon (gal)= 4.S4 litres= 1.20 gallons (USA)

In 1971 a new monetary system was introduced in the UK. This process
of
wasone hundred
known pence (p).
as decimalization. In the current systern one Pound (£1) consists

There exist the following coins: lp, 2p, Sp .

and the following banknotes: £5, £lo £
20
£so '£1Op, 20p, SOp, £1 and £ ,
Prior to decimalization fl consisted of
• • • I I
h·100,
I
. 2
pence in 1 shilling. 1 guinea refers to the sum20
of s ' 1hngs, and there were 12
There also existed the halfpenny l'heipni) and ohne Pound and one shilling.
penny). t e farth·1ng (a quarter of a