Numbers- Same or Different

Numbers and units in English the same or different

In pairs, label each line below with “S” for “The same” or “D” for “Different” depending on the pronunciations or meanings of the things on that line. If there are more than two on one line, they are all the same or all different (= different and then different again).

Pronunciations

• 5 in British English and in American English
• 1/2 in normal speech and 1/2 when stressing the number or being very precise
• 30-0 in tennis and in other sports
• two numbers the same next to each other in a telephone number, and a glass of whiskey which contains twice as much as a single
• the normal ways of saying 2/3, 4/5, etc, and the normal way of saying 223/978, 97/145, etc.
• 5^th and 1/5
• The normal pronunciations of 5,100 in British English and American English
• The normal pronunciations of 5,010 in British English and American English
• 2000 as a year and as a number
• 1800 as a year and as an engine size
• 1920 as a year and as a number
• the shortest forms of forty degrees Celsius and forty degrees Fahrenheit
• the British currency and the unit that Americans measure their own weights in
• the normal pronunciations of the numbers 20 2 2 and the time 1:40
• “15cm” in “A 15 cm ruler” and “It is 15 cm long”
• “note” and “nought”
• the Os in the American English pronunciation of 0.05
• the Os in the British English pronunciation of 0.05
• 911 and 9/11

Meanings

• nought, nil, love and zero
• a British pint and an American pint
• nought point seven five percent and three quarters of one percent
• sixteen hundred hours, four p.m. and four o’clock in the afternoon
• oh two hundred hours, two a.m. and two o’clock in the morning

Answer key

• the normal pronunciations of 0.5 in British English and American English – Different – “nought point five” and “zero point five”
• 1/2 in normal speech and 1/2 when stressing the number or being very precise – Different – “a half” and “one half”
• 30-0 in tennis and in other sports – Different – “thirty love” and “thirty zero” (or “thirty nil”)
• two numbers the same next to each other in a telephone number, and a glass of whiskey which contains twice as much as a single – The same – both “double”
• the normal ways of saying 2/3, 4/5, etc, and the normal way of saying 223/978, 97/145, etc – Different – “two thirds” etc and “two hundred and twenty three over nine hundred and seventy eight”
• 5^th and 1/5 – (Slightly) different – “fifth” and “a fifth” (or “one fifth”)
• 5,100 in British and American English – The same – “five thousand one hundred” (or, very rarely, “fifty one hundred”)
• The normal pronunciations of 5,010 in British and American English – Different – “five thousand and ten” and “five thousand ten”
• 2000 as a year and as a number – The same – both “two thousand”
• 1800 as a year and as an engine size – The same – both “eighteen hundred”
• 1920 as a year and number – Different – “nineteen twenty” and “one thousand (and) twenty”
• the shortest forms of forty degrees Celsius and forty degrees Fahrenheit – The same – both “forty degrees”
• the pronunciation of the British currency and the unit Americans weigh themselves in – The same – both “pound(s)”
• the normal pronunciations of the numbers 20 2 2 and the time 1:40 – (Slightly) different – the first would be “twenty two two” and the second “twenty to two”. As the “to” in the latter is almost always unstressed, it would sound like “ter” (which is different from the stressed pronunciation of “to”, which would be “tu:”, the same as “two” and “too”)
• the pronunciation of “15cm” in “A 15 cm ruler” and “It is 15 cm long”. – (Slightly) different – “A fifteen centimetre ruler” and “It is fifteen centimetres long”, because numbers before nouns act like adjectives and so never take an s
• the pronunciations of “note” and “nought” – Different – the first rhymes with “wrote” and the second rhymes with “sort”
• the Os in the American English pronunciation of 0.05 – The same, making it “zero point zero five”
• the Os in the British English pronunciation of 0.05 – Different – “nought point oh five”
• the pronunciation of 911 and 9/11 – Different – “Nine one one” and “Nine eleven”
• the meanings of nought, nil, love and zero – The same.
• a British pint and an American pint – Different – a British pint is slightly larger than half a litre, and an American pint is slightly over half a litre.
• nought point seven five percent and three quarters of one percent – The same
• sixteen hundred hours, four p.m. and four o’clock in the afternoon – The same
• oh two hundred hours, two a.m. and two o’clock in the morning – The same