Questions relating to the use of numbers or numerals in speaking or writing English.
16
votes
7answers
4k views
Should we use plural or singular for a fraction of a mile?
I have seen people say both 0.25 mile and 0.25 miles. Should we use plural or singular for a fraction of a mile?
5
votes
10answers
3k views
How to ask a question to get an ordinal number answer [duplicate]
Possible Duplicates:
How to phrase an asking sentence that must be answered with an ordinal number?
Framing a question to which the answer is an ordinal number
Given that I want to know ...
91
votes
12answers
3k views
Why do English writers avoid explicit numerals?
The junction has a stop sign on each of the four entrances.
The junction has a stop sign on each of the 4 entrances.
The first is preferred, for some reason, by many English texts. Why? I ...
22
votes
7answers
6k views
Plurals of acronyms, letters, numbers — use an apostrophe or not?
When I was in high school back in the 1970s, I was taught that to make a plural of an acronym, a letter, or a number, one should add an apostrophe and "s". Like I would have written this sentence, ...
8
votes
1answer
304 views
Data is/are in a global context
I have been commissioned to script a series of brief videos on the importance of data accuracy and consistency. The videos are directed to employees of a company with offices around the ...
8
votes
4answers
1k views
How can I form a word like “quadruple” for any number I want?
I'm not sure what these are called, but how can I form a word like "quadruple" for any number I want? Like 5× as much is quintuple, what is 31× as much or 147× as much? I want to know how they are ...
11
votes
4answers
984 views
Reading out numbers in English
What are the accepted guidelines for reading out numbers in English?
For example, should 1351 be read out as "one thousand and three hundred and fifty one", or should the "and"s be removed ...
9
votes
1answer
999 views
How do I determine subject and subject complement in “A side-effect is the spread of commercialese to other domains.”?
Consider this example:
Commercialese is an instrument of art,
designed to enrich and invigorate our
language—surely you will all agree
with this—, and we should encourage newcomers to learn ...
3
votes
0answers
325 views
Interrogative form of a sentence [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How should I phrase a question that must be answered with an ordinal number (e.g., the third prime)?
How to ask a question to get a cardinal number answer
Neil ...
2
votes
0answers
281 views
How do you say this in English? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicates:
Framing a question to which the answer is an ordinal number
How to phrase an asking sentence that must be answered with an ordinal number (e.g., the third prime) ?
It ...
0
votes
1answer
377 views
How will I ask this particular question? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Framing a question to which the answer is an ordinal number
How to phrase an asking sentence that must be answered with an ordinal number?
How to ask a question to get a ...
5
votes
4answers
3k views
How to use “tens of” and “hundreds of”?
If I'm not mistaken, tens of means 10 to 99 and hundreds of means 100 to 999. Is this correct? I found in some dictionaries that tens of is actually not correct.
I also found that hundreds of could ...
16
votes
5answers
882 views
Why is the unit of measure placed before the value for currencies? Are there other measures where the unit precedes value?
$1,000 is pronounced as "one thousand dollars".
Reading from left to right, it seems like it would make more sense to write the value as:
1,000$. This way the pronunciation of the value follows the ...
10
votes
2answers
353 views
Indefinite article in the “An [adjective] [number] [plural noun]” construction
I wasn't sure how best to phrase the title of this question.
I'm interested in constructions of the following form:
An estimated 50 people died in the bombing.
'An estimated' could be ...
4
votes
4answers
1k views
How to write decimal values in words
I have 1210.802 units in a mutual fund. How do I write it in words?
"One thousand two hundred and ten..." How do I write the decimal units here?
29
votes
9answers
2k views
“1 in 10 are” or “1 in 10 is”?
Take the examples:
"One in ten children are dyslexic."
"One in ten children is dyslexic."
"One in ten children has dyslexia."
"One in ten children have dyslexia."
The "one" is singular so 2 and 3 ...
5
votes
7answers
2k views
Does “nineteen-hundreds” refer to 1900–1909 or 1900–1999?
The words "nineteen-hundreds" to me mean strictly 1900–1909. I've noticed several times that people, invariably North American, use these words to mean "the twentieth century", or 1900–1999, or ...
11
votes
5answers
3k views
What does the term “86'd” relate to?
What does it mean when someone or something is referred to as being "86'd"?
7
votes
4answers
278 views
Transcribing long repeating phone numbers
I always have this problem of telling people my phone number which consists of a series of repeating numbers:
184 555 5555 (DO NOT CALL, this is just as an example)
I can tell people it is:
...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
Rule for adding “and” or hyphens between numbers that are spelled out fully in text
For example, take the number 342. It could be written out a number of different ways when spelled out fully.
Three hundred forty two
Three hundred and forty two
Three hundred and forty-two
What is ...
17
votes
2answers
830 views
Plurality of numbers between -1 and 1
If I recall correctly, the Académie française states that, for French, quantities comprised within [-1,1] are singular, and anything else is plural. This means, for instance, that we should say (in ...
16
votes
10answers
2k views
How do you correctly say large numbers
I saw a post on The daily What which links to a video where a person counts from 1 to 100,000.
Is he saying a large portion of the numbers wrong?
Back in high school my algebra teacher was extremely ...
11
votes
4answers
5k views
What is the origin of the counting prefixes: uni-, bi-/di-, tri-, quad-, etc.?
Many English words use the prefixes uni-, bi-/di-, tri-, quad- and so on to mean one, two, three, and four. For example:
A unicycle has one wheel, a bicycle two, and a tricycle three.
I presume ...
12
votes
4answers
691 views
19th century English texts occasionally use germanic-style number words, such as “four-and-twenty”. When did this fall out of use?
19th century English texts occasionally use germanic-style number words, such as "four-and-twenty", but the same text would also have the modern "twenty-four" in places (see e.g. Conan-Doyle for ...
9
votes
5answers
2k views
How do I pronounce “ratio 1:1”?
How do I pronounce "ratio 1:1"?
Should I pronounce it "ratio 1 to 1"?
15
votes
3answers
597 views
Billion and other large numbers
Traditionally a billion in American English means 109 (1,000,000,000, a thousand million) while in British English it means 1012 (a million million) with milliard meaning 109.
Is this still the case ...
4
votes
3answers
338 views
Can “another” be used with plural nouns provided periods or measurements don’t count?
Merriam-Webster says about another the following:
being one more in addition to one or more of the same kind
—http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/another
However, I come across such ...
3
votes
2answers
275 views
Verb agreement with nouns modified by numbers [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is it “5-6 weeks are a lot of time” or “5-6 weeks is a lot of time”?
I am writing about a baseball player who has 33 at-bats in his career.
...
3
votes
3answers
3k views
How to write numbers in words
How do we translate 1210 into words:
1) one thousand, two hundred, and ten
2) one thousand, two hundred and ten
or without the commas
3) one thousand two hundred and ten
4) one thousand two ...
2
votes
1answer
2k views
One and a half minute/minutes [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Pluralization rule for “five-year-old children”, “20 pound note”, “10 mile run”
Should we use plural or singular for a fraction of a ...
0
votes
4answers
5k views
How to say the total amount?
I'm not sure if the saying of the total amount USD 23,428.32 is correct below (esp. the 'cent' part after the dot):
Say U.S. dollars twenty-three thousand four hundred and twenty-eight and ...
27
votes
6answers
4k views
How can I write out 1.5?
I would like to write out (1.5) in words and also (5.0).
How would I do that?
25
votes
3answers
2k views
What is the plural form of “zero”?
I tried looking on Google, but there are some fairly contradictory results.
I thought I'd ask you guys so we could get an authoritative answer on the subject!
15
votes
2answers
393 views
Is there a system for creating words for ordinal numbers?
I'm not sure if "sequential" is the right word, but what is the system for creating a sequence of numbers like this:
primary (as in 1st in choice or importance)
secondary (as in 2nd in choice or ...
11
votes
1answer
412 views
Fractions as phrasal (compound) adjectives
Is there a difference between a written-out fraction that serves as a noun:
He gave me one half of his sandwich.
and a written-out fraction serving as an adjective:
I gave her a one-half ...
11
votes
5answers
928 views
Is there a word for numbers between 10 and 99?
I'd like to find such a word instead of saying "greater than 10 but less than 100".
8
votes
2answers
181 views
Is “-th” still a productive suffix in English?
The main question here is whether using -(e)th to create ordinals out of cardinals1 is still considered a productive suffix in English. Is it?
If so, then does it matter whether we are in a formal ...
8
votes
3answers
2k views
“Amount” vs. “number” vs. “quantity”
For what values of x does one write the number of x, the amount of x, or the quantity of x?
6
votes
5answers
304 views
How do I write consecutive numbers?
Today I wrote the sentence:
The supplied definition defines 24 16-bit words per subframe, and ...
I know the recipient will understand the terminology. I'm concerned about writing the phrase ...
3
votes
5answers
152 views
What is the term for groups of numerals within a large number?
I am writing software in which I would like to be able to return the groups of numerals within a large number. For example, given a number 123,456,789, my software would return 123 then 456 then 789.
...
3
votes
2answers
2k views
Reading out decimal numbers in English [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How to write decimal values in words
How do you read numbers like these?
0.12 "oh point twelve", "zero point one two", "zero and twelve hundreds"
And these ones?
...
23
votes
3answers
2k views
Is two-thirds plural?
Is 2/3 always, sometimes or never plural?
E.g.
1a) 2/3 of the pizza were eaten.
1b) 2/3 of the pizza was eaten.
2a) 2/3 of the visitors were men.
2b) 2/3 of the visitors was men.
I ...
6
votes
4answers
132 views
Name for number format used in “Section 3.2.1”
Does that kind of numbering style have a common name or names? To be fair, it is really more of an "identifier" since it certainly not a scalar (one-dimensional) number. It isn't fair to call it a ...
5
votes
2answers
2k views
Usage of “and” and comma when writing numbers UK style
I am trying to understand the rules for writing numbers in words under the UK rules (with "and"). I understand how to write small numbers (up to a few thousands), but I am not sure when to use "and" ...
5
votes
4answers
2k views
How to correctly specify a range of temperatures in both Fahrenheit and Celsius?
Current icky wording:
... they do best in
temperatures between 40 and 125
degrees F. ( 5 and 52 degrees C )
Using the "degree" symbol seems correct, but in a range should it be specified for ...
4
votes
3answers
207 views
Numbers and units
I'm looking for a single word to describe the combination of a number and unit. For example, “6 watts” or “2.5 kilometers”. Measurement is the closest I’ve come, but sounds cumbersome. Does anyone ...
3
votes
3answers
407 views
how to pronounce “twenty” correctly?
Well, I usually say "twenny" instead of "twenty" (not "twendy" even). I recently noticed that I never heard the same from any native english speakers during any talks I ever had with them.
Recently I ...
3
votes
3answers
245 views
How to write numbers one after the other in different context
Sorry if the title is poor. I am having a hard time thinking of a good title.
If I wanted to say something like:
"We will have 5 two-hour sessions".
Is there a proper way of listing this?
"Five ...
3
votes
4answers
1k views
'2-3' or 'two to three' proper use
In the following sentence is the use of '2-3' appropriate for a PowerPoint presentation or should it be 'two to three'?
Research shows that a deaf child tends to produce signs 2-3 months earlier ...
3
votes
4answers
3k views
Standard format for phone numbers? [closed]
I've recently noticed a wider variety in how phone numbers are presented, both in print and online, specifically with regard to spacing & punctuation.
Examples:
+1 (555) 123 4567
+1 (555) ...
