Reference section

1 Abbreviations Electricity
A ampere(s) or amp(s)
SI units of measurement Ah ampere hour(s)
Abbreviations are usually singular (e.g. 50 metres W watt (s)
is 50 m, not 50 ms ) kW kilowatt(s)
Abbreviations are usually lower<ase (e.g. mm , kWh kilowatt hour(s)
not MM ) with very few exceptions. Note that: V volt(s)
• litre can be L or /
• ampere ( A ), watt ( W ) and volt ( V ) use Speed
upper-case (capital) letters m /s metre(s) per second
Length km /s kilometre(s) per second
km /h kilometre(s) per hour
mm millimetre(s) rpm revolution(s) per minute
cm centimetre(s)
ni metre(s) Other units in common use
km kilometre(s) gal gallon( s ) 1 gal (US) = 3.7854 L
Area 1 gal (UK) = 4.5461 L
Pt pint( s ) 1 pt (US) = 0.4732 L
mm 2 square millimetre(s)
1 pt (UK) = 0.5683 L
m2 square metre(s) in inch(es ) 1 in = 25.4 mm
km 2 square kilometre(s) yd yard( s ) 1 yd = 0.9144 m
mi (orm) mile( s ) 1 mi = 1.61 km
Volume/Capacity
mph mile( s ) per hour 100 mph = 161 km/ h
mm 1 cubic miilimetre(s) lb pound( s ) 1 lb = 0.4536 kg
m! : cubic metre(s) oz ounce( s ) 1 oz = 28.3495 g
km:i cubic kilometre(s)
ml millilitre(s) Temperature
cl centilitre(s) °C degree(s) Celsius
L (or 0 litre(s) °F degree(s) Fahrenheit
Mass/Weight To convert Celsius to Fahrenheit:
°F = °C x 9/ 5 + 32.
mg milligram(s)
g gram(s) To convert Fahrenheit to Celsius:
°C = ( °F - 32) x 5/ 9.
kg kilogram(s)
t tonne(s)

106 Reference section

Some other abbreviations used in this book 2 Numbers, times and dates
am in the morning Numbers up to 100
AC alternating current
approx, approximately 1 one 14 fourteen
CD compact disc 2 two 15 fifteen
3 three 16 sixteen
CD-ROM compact disc, read-only-memory
DC direct current 4 four 17 seventeen
DVD digital video disc 5 five 18 eighteen
etc. and so on/etcetera 6 six 19 nineteen
FAQ frequently asked questions 7 seven 20 twenty
GB gigabytes 8 eight 21 twenty-one
ID identity 9 nine 22 twenty-two
ISO 10 ten 23 twenty-three
International Organisation for
Standardisation 11 eleven 24 -
twenty four
12 twelve 25 twenty-five
IT information technology
LED light-emitting diode 13 thirteen
LH left-hand 30 thirty 70 seventy
MB megabytes 40 forty 80 eighty
n/a not applicable; write this when there 50 fifty 90 ninety
is no possible answer, or no need to 60 sixty 100 a hundred /one hundred
answer a question on a form
no. number Numbers over 100
NS near-side (of car), away from the 100 a hundred /one hundred
steering wheel 1000 a thousand /one thousand
N, S, E, W, NW north, south, east , west , north 10,000 ten thousand
west 100,000 a hundred thousand /one hundred
OS off-side (of car), next to the steering thousand
wheel 1,000,000 a million /one million
pm in the afternoon (or evening) 1,000,000,000 a billion/one billion
qty quantity
Ordinal numbers
R&D research and development
ref . reference/with reference to l 5' first 11th eleventh 21st twenty-first
RF radio frequency; the RF IN socket on a 2 second 12th twelfth
nd
, -
22nd twenty second
TV comes from the antenna 3rd third 13 h thirteenth 23rd twenty-third
,
4 h forth 14th fourteenth 24th twenty-forth
RH right-hand ,
SCART a connector between two audio-visual 5 h fifth 15th fifteen 25th twenty-fifth
6 th sixth ,
16 h sixteenth 26th twenty-sixth
machines, e.g. a TV and a DVD player,
-
also called a Euro connector 7lh seventh 17lh seventeenth
8lh eighth
,
18 h eighteenth
27th twenty-seventh
,
28 h twenty-eighth
SI International System of Units; metric , ,
units 9"' nineth 19 h nineteenth 29 h twenty-nineth
TV television 10th tenth 20th twentieth 30th thirtieth
VCR video cassette recorder 31st thirty-first
Decimal numbers
0.1 nought point one/zero point one
15.1 fifteen point one
15.15 fifteen point one five
15.015 fifteen point oh one five/fifteen point
zero one five

Reference section 107

 Times 3 Symbols
24-hour 12-hour General warnings and safety symbols
Some ways to say it
clock clock danger/warning/ caution /hazard
oh five fifteen
05.15 5.15 am five fifteen in the morning
five fifteen am
ten thirty in the morning
10.30 10.30 am
ten thirty am
fourteen forty-five
14.45 2.45 pm two forty- five in the afternoon
Specific hazards
two forty- five pm

Jk A
twenty-one fifty-five
21.55 9.55 pm nine fifty- five pm
nine fifty-five in the evening

Months v /
^ ' D a n g e r
January, February, March , April , May, June, high voltage
July, August , September, October, November, flammable toxic/ poison high voltage
December Safety equipment or help
Days
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday, Sunday EXIT
Saying years
• 1998 = nineteen ninety eight - emergency exit / fire exit fire alarm
• 2000 = two thousand

I
• 2008 = two thousand and eight (BrE); two
thousand eight (AmE)
Writing dates
-
• 2011-06-14 (yyyy mm-dd) - ISO 8601: an Fire
international standard Extinguisher
• 14/06/ 11 (dd /mm/yy) - commonly used in
Europe fire hospital first aid
• 06/ 14/ 11 (mm/dd /yy) - commonly used in extinguisher
the US
• 14th June 2011
• 14 June 2011
• June 14, 2011
• June 14lh, 2011
Saying dates emergency stop
• the fourteenth of June, two thousand and eleven
(BrE); two thousand eleven (AmE) Prohibitions
• June the fourteenth, two thousand ( and) eleven

no entry no exit no smoking

108 Reference section

Some electrical symbols 4 Useful words
Industries and technologies
aerospace
agriculture
automotive engineering
conductor lamp buzzer bell biotechnology
chemical engineering
I civil engineering

T ) ° building and construction

electrical engineering
electronics/electronic engineering
battery switch terminal earth environmental engineering
information technology/IT
information and communications technology/ ICT
manufacturing
marine engineering
materials testing
fuse mechanical engineering
Other symbols petroleum
public health
+ plus/ positive
security
- minus/ negative
telecommunications/telecoms
# hash/ number
transport
° degree(s)
± plus or minus Names of jobs
= equals
engineer
*> does not equal manager
at least (also more than or equal to) technologist
< up to (also less than or equal to)
technician
~ approximately/about (also has other uses)
supervisor
< less them , under
team leader
> more than, over mechanic
/ tick
operator
X cross
point (decimal number) Materials
Metals: aluminium, titanium , copper, iron , lead ,
Currency symbols
tin
euro(s) Alloys: steel , chrome, cromoly
$ dollar(s)/ peso(s)/ reai(s) Plastics: polycarbonate, polyester, polystyrene,
& pound (s) nylon
¥ yen Composites: fibreglass, graphite
7C renminbi/yuan
J rial(s)/ riyal(s)
Rs Rp rupee(s)
Internet symbols
@ at
.com dot com
A-B A hyphen B / A dash B
A /B A slash B / A forward slash B
_
A B A underscore B

Reference section 109

 British and American English Meeting someone for the first time
Here are some of the words used in this book, but Pleased to meet you. Nice to meet you. Good to
there are many more. Key the words American meet you
British English into an Internet search engine Taking leave
or Wikipedia to find complete lists. Some AmE Goodbye. Bye. Cheerio.
words and spellings are now used also in BrE, for See you. See you later. See you tomorrow.
example, antenna, disk . Some BrE words are now
used in AmE, for example, car.
6 Telephone phrases
British English (BrE) American English (AmE) Beginning a phone call
accelerator gas pedal /gas Hello. This is Mike. It’s Mike. Mike here. Mike
aerial antenna speaking.
aeroplane airplane Hello. Is that Mike?
aluminium aluminum Yes, this is Mike. Is that Jim?
cable/ wire ( electricity ) cord
Listening to a voicemail
car automobile
Thank you for calling ABC Computers.
centre center
You’ve reached the voicemail of John Wilson.
colour color
Please leave a message after the tone.
disc disk
earth ( electricity ) ground Leaving a voicemail
fibreglass fiberglass Hello. My name is ...
flat ( battery ) dead My phone number is ...
lift ( in a building ) elevator My email address is ...
litre liter My address is .. .
metre, kilometre, meter, kilometer, I’d like to order/buy ...
millimetre millimeter I’d like some information about ...
mobile/ mobile phone cellphone Could you please send me your catalogue/
petrol gas/gasoline brochure.
polystyrene styrofoam Please call me back. It’s urgent.
postal code zip code Please get back to me when you can. Thanks.
spanner wrench Thank you.
storey ( in a building ) floor/story Listening to an automatic message
torch flashlight Thank you for calling ABC Computers.
tyre tire For the sales department , please press 1.
vice ( in a workshop ) vise To hear information about our services, press 2.
windscreen windshield To speak to a service technician, please hold.
Please wait.
5 Social phrases Answering a call from a customer
Meeting a friend or co-worker Thank you for calling ABC Computers.
Hello. Hi. Morning. Good morning. This is the service department .
How are you? How are things? How are you My name’s Jason. This is Jason. Jason speaking.
doing? How’s it going? I’m the service technician.
Fine, thanks. Great . How about you? How can I help? How can I help you? What can I
Introducing yourself do for you? What’s the problem?
I’m Hans. My name’s Hans.
Introducing someone else
This is Mia. She’s a student here. She’s a
technician.

no Reference section
7 Forms and email conventions
Forms

* Hi +
'

m »
r
Title (Mr /Ms/Mrs ) Mr
Full name Jan Lorenz Nowak
First name( s) Jan Lorenz
lil
Surname Nowak
Occupation Marine technician
Designation/Job Title 1 Team Leader, Section 2
Company Fleet Engineering Co.
Company address/Work address Unit 34, Marina Docks. Ring Road, Bristol BS98 4NT
Nationality Polish
Passport number n/a
Date of birth (dd/mm/yy ) 10/ 12/90
Qualifications Diploma in Marine Technology
Home address 14 Watling Street, Bristol BS88 9Q1
House number 14
Postal code BS889Q 1
Mailing address* same
Billing address * * same
Email address nowak . jl43 @ fleet.co.uk
Office telephone number 01234 8856967
Extension x 340
Mobile 07734 123 456

* we’ll send the goods to this address

* * we’ll send the invoice to this address
Email

Subject: Re: Steering problem

From: info @ motors.co.uk
To: Peter Jones

Dear Mr Jones Hi Peter*

Thanks for your email of 07/11. Thank you for
With reference to your steering problems, I’ve
inspected your car. It needs a new power steering Re /With regard to/Concerning
pump. Would you like me to
Do you want me to install a new pump?
Please confirm.
Please let me know.
Regards
Best regards! Best/ Best wishes
John Stevens John*

* Use this form when you know

your customer well.
Reference section 111