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Accurately Writing Numbers as Words

03 Sep 2024

buswritingAs a business writer, you will often have to write out numbers out as words. One of the most common tasks for everyone is having to write amounts on cheques in both numbers and words. But how many of you can write out a number, particularly a long number, accurately. The aim of this topic is to revise writing numbers as words accurately.

We've divided numbers into the following groups:

  • Cardinal Numbers
  • Ordinal Numbers
  • Decimal Numbers
  • Fractions and Percentages
  • Weights, Measures and Currencies

Cardinal Numbers

0 "oh", nought, zero
1 one
2 two
3 three
4 four
5 five
6 six
7 seven
8 eight
9 nine
10 ten
11 eleven
12 twelve
13 thirteen
14 fourteen
15 fifteen
16 sixteen
17 seventeen
18 eighteen
19 nineteen
20 twenty
21 twenty-one
22 twenty--two
30 thirty
31 thirty-one
32 thirty-two
100 one hundred
101 one hundred and one
102 one hundred and two
999 nine hundred and ninety-nine
1,000 one thousand
1,199 one thousand one hundred and ninety-nine
1,000,000 one million
5,000,000 five million
1000,000,000 a billion
1000,000,000,000 a trillion

Ordinal numbers

1st first
2nd second
3rd third
4th fourth
5ft fifth, etc
17e etc seventeenth
20th, 30th etc twentieth, thirtieth etc
21st, 31st etc twenty-first, thirty-first etc
22nd, 32nd etc twenty-second, thirty-second etc
100th hundredth
101st hundred and first
1,000th thousandth
1,000,000th millionth

Decimal numbers

10.5 ten point five 10.58 ten point five eight
0.5 nought point five
0.05 nought point nought five
1.05 one point zero five

Fractions and percentages

1/2 a half
1/3 a third
2/3 two thirds
1/4 a quarter
3/4 three quarters
160/400 one hundred and sixty over four hundred
1/5 a fifth
1/10 a tenth
1/100 a hundredth
1/1000 etc a thousandth etc
5% five percent
5.4% five point four percent

Weights, measures and currencies

1 cm one centimetre
1.5 l one and a half litres (or one point five litres)
1.7 l one point seven litres
1.25 m one meter twenty-five (or one and a quarter metres)
1.3 km one point three kilometres
1.2 kg one point two kilos
1.5 T one and a half tons (or one point five tons)
$500 five hundred dollars
$6.80 six dollars eighty
$14.25 (on a cheque) fourteen dollars and twenty-five cents
 

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