A problem with fraction

[Harum30]

I got very confused how to read fraction, my teacher said that 5/7 is read five-seventh, then I tried to search it by myself and I found this thread
https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/118951-quot-How-to-read-fractions
in that thread, it's said that

3/8 --------> Three eighths

13/18 -------> Thirteen eighteenths

24/26 --------> Twenty-four twenty-sixths

I showed this thread to my teacher but he just said that he never heard it, then I showed it to my friends but they're also taught that there's no -s ending for the denominator. I'm from Indonesia and English is the second language here, so can you give me some suggestions about how to convince my teacher and friends about how to read fraction properly? Please correct me if I'm wrong, I will be very happy because I'm highly motivated to know more and more about English.

Thank you

 

[Rover_KE]

The readings in your quote box are absolutely correct.

 

[emsr2d2]

Any fraction which starts with a 1 takes no "s" at the end.

1/16 = one sixteenth
1/8 = one eighth
1/4 = one/a quarter
1/2 = one/a half

If the fraction starts with anything over 1, it takes an "s" at the end.

2/3 = two thirds
3/4 = three quarters
7/8 = seven eighths
5/16 = five sixteenths

This makes perfect sense logically. "One" of something is singular. Any more than one becomes plural.

 

[Harum30]

Any fraction which starts with a 1 takes no "s" at the end.

1/16 = one sixteenth
1/8 = one eighth
1/4 = one/a quarter
1/2 = one/a half

If the fraction starts with anything over 1, it takes an "s" at the end.

2/3 = two thirds
3/4 = three quarters
7/8 = seven eighths
5/16 = five sixteenths

This makes perfect sense logically. "One" of something is singular. Any more than one becomes plural.

Thank you for your explanation.
So, does that rule exist both in American and British English?

 

[MikeNewYork]

Yes, it does.

 

[Rover_KE]

Thank you for your help

Please don't use a smiley to replace the correct punctuation mark.

Harum30, there is no need to write a new post just to say "Thank you". It makes us think there is new information or a follow-up question and we spend time opening the thread. Simply click on the "Thank" button at the bottom left-hand corner of any post you find helpful.

It saves everybody's time.

 

[Tdol]

so can you give me some suggestions about how to convince my teacher and friends about how to read fraction properly?

Ask them to show native speakers that agree with their position. This thread, and others, all have native speakers, from different variants, who say that this is the system they use. No education system is perfect,so it is possible that this has crept into what is taught in Indonesia, but when the speech community says one thing and another thing is taught as a second language, it is not the speech community that is wrong.

 

[BobK]

:up: On the other hand, if that's the way it's taught in Indonesia, it'll generate more heat than light if an individual insists on being 'the only one in step'.
I'm not sure it does a lot of good to correct a usage that is well established and widely used and understood in a speech community. Native speakers can say what they know to be true, but that doesn't mean that speakers of ESOL/EFL have to adopt it into their own speech habits,

My Ji gong teacher (a Czech, but with many ELF contacts in China) refers to one exercise as 'Pulling nine oxens'. The first time I heard it, I corrected her. She's not stupid, and I gave the analogy of 'children' - which she understood. But she didn't change, and it would be plain rude if I just kept correcting her.

b

 

[lotus888]

It is "A problem with fractions".



--lotus