Numbers, Charts and Graphs in Business English

Students of Business English often have trouble with counting, figures, duration of time and other issues related to numbers. This page is for numbers, go HERE for the Charts and Graphs page.

One of the most frequent problems is pronouncing numbers in an understandable way. Even native speakers sometimes double check if a customer said sixteen or sixty. Big difference if you get the order wrong!

Following is the easiest way to get the pronunciation correct.

Use the “respelling” for pronunciation to help you get it right.
STRESS the syllable that is capitalized.

13	thir-TEEN	THIR-tee	30
14	four-TEEN	FOUR-tee	40
15	fif-TEEN	FIF-tee	50
16	six-TEEN	SIX-tee	60
17	seven-TEEN	SEV-en-tee	70
18	eight-TEEN	EIGHT-tee	80
19	nine-TEEN	NINE-tee	90

Other problems for Business English students include the how number zero is used, decimal points, larger numbers, phone numbers and more.

ZERO, NOUGHT, OH

British English and American English vary a bit as you will only rarely hear an American use NIL or NOUGHT for Zero. In British English it common to use OH after a decimal point and NOUGHT before it. In American English ZERO point OH. Numbers after a decimal are all stated separately.

Telephone numbers are usually stated individually, though sometimes in pairs or triplets.

So, let’s try this:

	When	Number	Example	Variant
Say OH	following decimals	3.02	three point oh two
Say ZERO or NOUGHT	before decimals	0.02	zero point oh two	nought point oh two *– BrEng*
Say OH	telephone numbers	325-1605	three two five – one six oh five
		325-2045	three two five – two oh four five	three two five – two oh forty-five
		325-6055	three two five – six oh five five	three two five – six oh double five**
	bus, train or flight numbers	SQ305	SQ three oh five
Say ZERO	temperature	0°	zero degrees

NOTE: Say POINT for decimal points. **This variant confuses some non-native speakers and listeners – avoid it, but know it is there.

Practice the following statements using the rules above:
1. Room Service? Please bring my dinner up to room 3205.
2. Flight MI2055 is boarding at gate B22.
3. It’s freezing outside it’s 20° below 0!
4. Do you have my number? It’s 089-875-3003.
5. The exact size of the specimen is 0.06cm.

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!

How to state amounts of money is always a difficult point for students of Business English, but the rules are relatively simple. Numbers before decimals are stated in full – after the decimal they are also stated in full EXCEPT for .01 through .09. Please see the examples below:

Amount	is spoken as	or **
$66.50	sixty-six fifty	sixty-six dollars and fifty cents
£3.05	three oh five	three pounds and five pence
€8.88	eight eighty-eight	eight euros and eighty-eight cents
¥2005	two thousand and five	two thousand and five yen

**The “and” is sometimes dropped and/or not always used by all native speakers. Students usually understand better and are better understood if they use the “and”.

YEARS and BIG NUMBERS

Number	is spoken as
the year 2005	two-thousand and five
year 1995	nineteen ninety-five
number 1995	one**-thousand nine-hundred and ninety-five
year 2012	twenty twelve
year 2055	twenty fifty-five
number 1022	one**-thousand and twenty-two
year 1022	ten twenty-two
number 1,325,455	one**-million, three-hundred twenty-five thousand, four-hundred fifty-five

** Sometimes native speakers will substitute an “a” for “one” – thus, for 1022, saying “a thousand and twenty-two”.

LITTLE NUMBERS: Fractions

Fractions are usually spoken as ordinal numbers:

number	is spoken as	variant
1/5	one fifth	a fifth
1/7	one seventh	a seventh
1/3	one third	a third
3/4	three fourths
7/8	seven eighths

Note some exceptions and variants however:

number	is spoken as	variant
½	a half	one half
¾	three quarters	three fourths
2½	two and a half
4¾	four and three quarters	four and three fourths
¼	one quarter	one fourth

Numbers, Charts and Graphs – Business English