Pronunciation of numbers

[Rachel Adams]

Why should we?

I am not saying you should. But why exactly is it wrong?

 

[GoesStation]

Why BrE speakers wouldn't say thirty-five hundred:shock:

You're slipping, Rachel. What is wrong in the above question?

 

[Rachel Adams]

You're slipping, Rachel. What is wrong in the above question?

Corrected.
Why woudn't BrE speakers say "thirty-five hundred?"

 

[Rover_KE]

Corrected.
Why wouldn't BrE speakers say "thirty-five hundred"?

;-)

 

[bubbha]

Hello.

3. $15,00 fifteen hundred dollars or fifteen hundred books.
4. $35,00 thirty-five hundred dollars or thirty-five hundred people.

You wrote the numbers wrong. The comma is written once every three digits from the rightmost "ones" digit.
$1,500
$3,500

$3,657,642,464

 

[Rachel Adams]

No, we'd use "fifteen hundred" or "one thousand five hundred" there. For numbers between 1,001 and 20,000, we use both constructions. Note that in the following examples, I'm talking only about currency or numbers that don't refer to years.

1,200 = twelve hundred or one thousand two hundred
1,850 = eighteen hundred and fifty or one thousand eight hundred and fifty
1,976 = nineteen hundred and seventy-six (although now I've written that out, I realise I probably wouldn't use it!) or one thousand nine hundred and seventy-six.

The comma placement is important but it differs between countries. For example:

UK: £1,205.43 (one thousand two hundred and five pounds, and forty-three pence)
Spain: €1.205,43 (one thousand two hundred and five euros, and forty-three centimos)

As you can see, where the UK uses a comma, Spain uses a full stop and where the UK uses a full stop, Spain uses a comma. Not understanding that led to a confusing hour on my online Spanish banking website because I couldn't understand why it wouldn't let me transfer €223.05 to someone. I finally realised that I had to write it as €223,05

I hope the following variants I wrote are correct. The underlined ''and'' is not optional, as far as I know.

£1,205.43
''One thousand two hundred and five pounds, (and) forty-three pence.''
''One thousand two hundred and five pounds, (and)forty-three.''
''One thousand two hundred and five pounds forty-three.''

 

[emsr2d2]

I hope the following variants I wrote are correct. The underlined ''and'' is not optional, as far as I know.

£1,205.43

1. ''One thousand two hundred and five pounds, (and) forty-three pence.''
2. ''One thousand two hundred and five pounds, (and) space here forty-three.''
3. ''One thousand two hundred and five pounds forty-three.''

1 and 3 are correct.
2 is unlikely. We don't tend to include the word "pounds" with "and" after it, without saying "pence" or "p(ee)" after it.

Using a shorter example, we'd say these for £1.56, in order of likelihood. (The first two are probably equally likely.)

One fifty-six.
One pound fifty-six.
One pound, fifty-six pee/pence.
One pound and fifty-six pee/pence.

 

[Rachel Adams]

No, we'd use "fifteen hundred" or "one thousand five hundred" there. For numbers between 1,001 and 20,000, we use both constructions. Note that in the following examples, I'm talking only about currency or numbers that don't refer to years.

1,200 = twelve hundred or one thousand two hundred
1,850 = eighteen hundred and fifty or one thousand eight hundred and fifty
1,976 = nineteen hundred and seventy-six (although now I've written that out, I realise I probably wouldn't use it!) or one thousand nine hundred and seventy-six.

The comma placement is important but it differs between countries. For example:

UK: £1,205.43 (one thousand two hundred and five pounds, and forty-three pence)
Spain: €1.205,43 (one thousand two hundred and five euros, and forty-three centimos)

As you can see, where the UK uses a comma, Spain uses a full stop and where the UK uses a full stop, Spain uses a comma. Not understanding that led to a confusing hour on my online Spanish banking website because I couldn't understand why it wouldn't let me transfer €223.05 to someone. I finally realised that I had to write it as €223,05

Regarding the part in bold. If I have a similar number 1,753 it would be better to pronounce it as ''one thousand seven hundred and fifty-three.'' Instead of ''seventeen hundred and fifty-three.

 

[emsr2d2]

Regarding the part in bold. If I have a similar number 1,753 it would be better to pronounce it as ''one thousand seven hundred and fifty-three.'' Instead of ''seventeen hundred and fifty-three.

Yes, if the comma is included, then it can't refer to a year so to be as sure as you can that you're saying it right and in a way that speakers of all varieties of English will understand, say it like that.

 

[Rachel Adams]

1 and 3 are correct.
2 is unlikely. We don't tend to include the word "pounds" with "and" after it, without saying "pence" or "p(ee)" after it.

Using a shorter example, we'd say these for £1.56, in order of likelihood. (The first two are probably equally likely.)

One fifty-six.
One pound fifty-six. "And"??
One pound, fifty-six pee/pence.
One pound and fifty-six pee/pence.

Is "And" possible in your second example?

 

[Rachel Adams]

See above.

I wrote another summary. If I know the exact construction it is very easy.
A.
1. Digit +pounds +and +pence.
£2,307.77 Two thousand three hundred and seven pounds and seventy-seven pence.

2. Digit +pounds +digit

Two thousand three hundred and seven pounds seventy-seven.

3. Two thousand three hundred and sevent pounds and seventy-seven pence.

B. £4.68 Four sixty-eight. Digit +digit.
Four pounds sixty-eight. Digit +pounds +digit.
Four pounds and sixty-eight pence. Digit +pounds +and +digit +pence.
Four pounds sixty-eight pence. Digit +pounds +digit +pence.

 

[emsr2d2]

Before we carry on, please edit your last post and remove the space after the £ sign. You should have noticed after 4 pages of posts that that space does not appear in any native speakers' posts.

 

[Rachel Adams]

Before we carry on, please edit your last post and remove the space after the £ sign. You should have noticed after 4 pages of posts that that space does not appear in any native speakers' posts.

I edited it.

 

[GoesStation]

Here's another wrinkle. This morning I heard a British BBC News reporter pronounce 10,500 as "ten and a half thousand". It sounded really odd to me. I wonder how my British friends feel about this.

 

[jutfrank]

It doesn't sound odd to me. I'm slightly surprised it does to you.

What would you want to hear? Ten thousand five hundred?

 

[GoesStation]

What would you want to hear? Ten thousand five hundred?

Yes. I can't remember the exact sentence, but it was reporting a deaths count. I'd expect something like more than ten thousand five hundred people. I don't know why "ten and a half thousand" sounds strange when "three and a half thousand" doesn't. Maybe it's just me.