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EXERCISES USING
NUMBERS AND DATES
These exercises are designed for reading aloud to give you confidence in saying numbers and dates.
For training purposes I have written some numbers as numbers – 8, for example and not the word ‘eight’. However in essays and written work you should always write the word for a simple number in full.
This is an important point of style but obviously it is also necessary to show that you know the word for this number in English.
EXERCISE 1
COMING TO LONDON
There are over 40 mentions of numbers and dates in these 300+ words.
My father’s family came to London in 1839. They had first moved from Rumania in 1835. On their travels across Europe they had lived in 11 different cities. They were the first Rumanian merchants to settle in Brixton, South London, although dozens of Rumanians lived in other parts of London.
My father was the seventh son of a seventh son and, as his ancestors were gypsies, this was said to give him special powers. For example, the family believed that he had the ‘sixth sense’ and, if he was lucky, he would have ‘second sight’ and be able to see the future.
But my father laughed at this idea and said the only luck he had ever had was when he married my mother in 1978 and when he won $2,550* In a lottery in 1979 or 1980.
My mother was born in Veracruz, Mexico, in 1959. She started school when she was 5 and made her first communion at age 7 in 1966. She was confirmed when she was 11, in 1970.
Her parents moved to London (a distance of over 1,800 miles or 2,900 kilometers) in 1971 when she was 12 years old.
She was the third child in the family and the first girl, as she had two older brothers, who were 4 years old and 7 years old when she was born.
Her father’s job took him all over Britain and she calculated that by the time she was 17 she had lived in 8 different houses and attended 6 different schools.
She was grateful for this kind of life because she had hundreds of friends in England and in Mexico. She had visited Mexico 3 times before she was 18 and had been to Venezuela once, in 1976.
My parents liked to move house: their last three moves were in 1994, 1999 and 2007. We celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on 4 March 2008.
*Usually only the U.S. dollar symbol is shown and we must say the word ‘dollars’ after the number.
EXERCISE 2
THE BIRTH OF CALTON CITY
There are over 40 mentions of numbers and dates in these 300+ words.
The population of Calton City has changed over the years. In 1832 there were 21,000 adult males, 18,560 adult females and 12,330 children. In 1842 there was an outbreak of pneumonia which reduced the population to 37,000 in total. Only 7,000 children survived out of more than 13,000.
The census of 1854 showed a sharp rise in the birth rate, with 14,230 children now included in a population of 57,550. A second survey was carried out in 1856 and the increases were confirmed.
There were 18 people in the census team: a leader, two deputies and 15 field workers. They were very experienced, as 72% (seventy two percent) of them had spent over 12 years in this sort of work.
In 1872 the government built a large army barracks on the edge of town. 2,500 men of the 7th Cavalry occupied the barracks, together with more than 500 support personnel, of whom more than 50% were women.
A further contingent of 800 infantry from the 5th Army moved into the site 7 months later.
The presence of the army brought wealth to the town, and over 1,700 civilians took up residence in the next 3 years. The police force increased by 20% (twenty percent) to 30 officers and by 1902 the population of the town had expanded to 90,000.
A history of the town was published in 1931. This book encouraged the demands for city status which had arisen before: applications had been made in 1925 and 1929 to turn Calton Town into Calton City. The first of these campaigns had cost $10,000 and the second $17,000. This was a lot of money.
A town meeting was called, led by the mayor and 15 councilors. They agreed to spend a maximum of $25,000 to make a third application.
The townspeople applauded this decision and in less than 10 months, in 1933, city status was granted.
Pronunciation of Numbers and Dates
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