| 0 | zero, oh, nought | 20 | twenty |
| 1 | one | 21 | twenty-one |
| 2 | two | 22. etc. | twenty-two, etc. |
| 3 | three | 30 | thirty |
| 4 | four | 40, etc. | forty |
| 5 | five | 50 | fifty |
| 6 | six | 60 | sixty |
| 7 | seven | 70 | seventy, etc. |
| 8 | eight | 100 | a or one hundred |
| 9 | nine | 101 | a or one hundred and one, etc. |
| 10 | ten | 1000 | a or one thousand |
| 11 | eleven | 1.000.000 | a or one million |
| 12 | twelve | 567 | five hundred and sixty-seven. |
| 13 | thirteen | 234.567 | two hundred and thirty-four thousand, |
| 14 | fourteen | five hundred and sixty-seven. | |
| 15 | fifteen | 3.234.567 | three million, two hundred and thirty-four |
| 16, etc. | sixteen, etc. | thousand, five hundred and sixty-seven |
Observe that hundred, thousand, and million are not pluralized after two, three, etc. The plural pronouns hundreds, thousands, and millions are formed, but these plurals are used only to indicate a vague plurality ('a number of hundreds', etc.), never preceded by a specific number ; in this use, they may be followed by of preceding a noun, which is not necessarily qualified by the etc. (Hundreds of houses will be needed ; The air was black with millions of these insects ; I put thousands to death myself.)
To form the number words which give the position of a thing in a series (the 'ordinal' numbers), add -th to the above (the 'cardinal' numbers) : fourth , sixth. There are six exceptions to this rule. You have already learned two of these, first and second. The other two are third (No 3), fifth (No. 5), eighth (No 8), and twelfth (No. 12).1
When -th is added to a number ending in y, the y is changed to ie (each letter being pronounced separately). Example : twentieth.
These ordinal numbers may, as we have seen in the case of first, be used pronominally if preceded by the, a, or a possessive adjective : No more attempts were made after the fourth : You gave only two reasons, but there is a third.
Fractions are expressed as follows :
1/3 = a third or one-third.But observe thee two important exceptions :
5/8 = five-eighths.
7/20 = seven-twentieths.
½ -- a (one) half, commonly shortened to half.Like the word part, the name of a fraction is linked by of to the name of the whole to which it relates : two-thirds of the amount. With half used alone, however, of is generally omitted before nouns : half the amount ; and is always omitted in forming measuring terms : half an hour.
¼ -- though it may be called one-fourth, is usually called a (one) quarter.
When indicating how often a thing takes place, we talk of it as occurring three times, four times, etc. But note that for ' one time ' we always say once, and for ' two times ', twice.
In arithmetic :
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2 + 2 is expressed as two and two, and to 'add two and two' is to make the addition of two and two. The process itself is named addition. 4 - 3 is expressed as three from four, and to 'subtract three from four' is to take three from four. 5 × 6 is expressed as five times six, and to 'multiply five by six' is to take five times six. 18 ÷ 6 is expressed as six into eighteen, and to 'divide eighteen by six' is to make division of eighteen by six. The process itself is named division. = is expressed as is equal to or, simply, is. For the result of addition make is also used (two and two make four), and for that, of division, we say five goes into sixteen three times with one over.
1 . Ordinal numbers are abbreviated as follows : 1st , 2nd , 3rd , 4th , 5th , 6th , etc.and said as : first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth etc.
EXERCISE ON NUMBERS
1 . Say the following : 6 ; 18 ; 72 ; 5/9 ; 104 ; 1/11 ; 2315 ; 1.900.020 ; 55 ; 1/2 ; 13 ; 3/4 ; 710 ; 1012 ; 34 .2 . Write the following in numbers : forty-six ; three ; eleven ; a hundred and fifty-two ; twelve thousand ; thirteen million ; twenty-seven ; nine ; seven-tenths ; eleven-fifteenths ; eight thousand, four hundred and thirty.
3 . Substitute words for the symbols in these sums and write down the answers in words :
| (a) | 4 x 9 = | (e) | 5 + 3 + 7 = |
| (b) | 5 + 6 + 2 = | (f) | 8 × 12 = |
| (c) | 8 + 6 - 4 = | (g) | 33 ÷ 3 = |
| (d) | 23 × 2 = | (h) | 2 + 7 - 9 = |
4 . Imagine yourself to be holding up your right hand with the nails facing you. Fill in the blanks in the following statements about it :
- (a) My ________ finger is my thumb.
(b) The ________ finger is my longest finger.
(c) The shortest of my fingers is the ________ finger.
(d) The finger between my longest finger and my shortest finger is my ________ finger.
(e) The finger between my thumb and my longest finger is my ________ finger.
5 . Fill in the blanks in the following statements. A sentence may require more than one word to complete it.
- (a) The hour hand of a clock will be at six _______ every twenty-four hours.
(b) While the hour hand of a clock is moving from eight to twelve, the minute hand goes round the face ________.
(c) In the time needed for the hour hand to make one complete circle, the minute hand goes round the face of a clock ________.
(d) The minute hand goes round the face of a clock ________ every hour.
A POOR FAMILY
The Smiths are poor and their existence is not a very smooth one. Mr. Smith makes his living by cleaning windows. Though he is a hard-working little man and a good window-cleaner, his income is never quite enough for the family needs. Mrs. Smith is still quite a young woman but her face is lines with care. She is at work in the house all day, so she generally goes about in an overall, with a cloth round her head to keep the dust out of her hair. They have a family of four -- a boy of ten and three girls, of whom the youngest is two and the oldest is twelve. When Mrs. Smith had given birth to her fourth baby, she said she would never have another, but a fifth is now on the way.
To see the Smiths, one has to go to a narrow, dirty, little street on the outskirts of a gray town which is dark with smoke. Their house, Number 18, is the poorest-looking house in the street, though its windows are undoubtedly the cleanest. Mr. Smith gives them a polish once a week because, as he says, it is a good advertisement. It is a small house, with only two bedrooms. Mr. and Mrs. smith have one bedroom and the three girls have the other. Jim, the boy, has a folding bed in the living-room. At the back is a small open space about half the size of the house, which may at some time have been a garden. Now it has no grass or flowers but only a line for drying the clothing on which Mrs. Smith does the washing.
Jim makes a little money by taking papers round and putting them in the letter-boxes before he goes to school. He has to get up early to do this, and sometimes, when he is tired, he would be pleased to get out of doing it and have another hour in bed. Then his father has to give him a shake and say, "It's time for you to be up, son !" Naturally Jim doesn't make enough money to keep himself, but even the little he gets is a help to his father and mother, and at the end of the week they let him have some of it for pocket-money.
The Smiths are never certain how much money will be coming in because this is dependent on the weather. On wet days, when it is not possible to do any window-cleaning, Mr. Smith generally gets other work to do in one or another of the houses he goes to regularly. Sometimes there is a bit of painting to be done, sometimes it's work with a screwdriver and hammer. But frequently he is given only two or three hours' work in the day, and then he doesn't go back with much in his pocket. It may be no more than a third of the money he would have made by cleaning windows. When Mr. Smith has had a bad week, they are so poor that they haven't enough money for the gas, and have to go to bed early because they are unable to put on the lights. Their food is simple at any time, but there are days when they have nothing but tea and bread for every meal. However poor she is, Mrs. Smith never does without tea, which is, happily, cheap. She keeps a kettle boiling on the fire and makes it at all times of the day. She has a great belief in the comforting effects of 'a good, strong cup of tea'. Mr. Smith, on the other hand, would give up anything but his tobacco. Mrs. Smith is frequently shocked at the money wasted, as she puts it, on cigarettes, but Mr. Smith says that smoking is his only pleasure and that any other woman would be pleased that, unlike most of his sex, he kept away from drink.
Mrs. Smith is on her feet almost all day. First she has to get a meal for the family and see that Jim and the two older girls are ready for school. Molly, the youngest, is dressed by her sister Joan. Joan sometimes lets the soap get in her eyes or is rough when combing her hair to get the knots out. Then a loud sound of crying comes from the bedroom and Mrs. Smith has to go and see what is wrong. As she herself says, it's impossible to be in two places at the same time, and frequently, while she is comforting Molly, the food she is cooking gets burned.
Before Mrs. Smith lets Jim and the two girls go to school, she has a look at them with a mother's eye. On most mornings she has to say, "Jim, your parting isn't straight," or "Go and give your neck a wash, you bad boy !" or "How did you get such dirty nails, Betty " Don't let the teacher see your hands in that condition." Then, if they are slow in getting ready, as they generally are, she says, "Billy Jackson has gone past the window on his way to school. If you aren't quick you'll be late. And take care how you go across the road."
When the family is out of the house, Mrs. Smith gets on with the housework, brushing, dusting, and polishing. Wherever she goes, Molly goes with her, getting under her feet and making the work harder. It isn't safe to let her be in a room by herself, because her power of destruction is very great and sharp things such as knives, needles, and nails have a special attraction for her. In addition, she has a love of opening and shutting doors. One day she got two of her fingers badly crushed when playing in this way.
After putting the house in order, Mrs. Smith goes out to the stores and gets the day's food. Naturally Molly goes with her and when she gets tired Mrs. Smith has to take her in her arms. When Molly was younger, she had a baby-carriage, but when she got to the stage of walking Mrs. Smith didn't keep it, because she was offered a good price for it and the money was needed at the time for clothing. Now Molly has become such a weight that Mrs. Smith is regretting that she let it go.
When she gets back, it is time for her to get another meal for the family. This is the chief meal of the day and all the family comes in for it. There is no one to give Mrs. Smith any help with the washing up, because Jim and his sisters have to go back to school and Mr. Smith has to get back to his work. Washing up for a family of six takes quite a long time. After everything has been put away, Mrs. Smith still has work to do. This is the time of day when she does the week's washing or put her irons on the fire and does the ironing. On days when there is no washing or ironing to be done, she has a chance to do a little needlework. She never seems to get to the end of the socks with holes in them or the shirts without buttons.
When Mr. Smith comes in at night, Joan is generally playing scales on the piano. This piano is the most valued thing in the Smith's house. It was given to them by Mr. Smith's mother shortly after they were married, because she had let part of her house and had no room for it. Mrs. Smith, who doesn't get on very well with Mr. Smith's relations, says that this is the only thing her mother-in-law has ever done for them. Joan has a great love of music and she is learning the piano at school. Though she never gets very high marks for her other school work, she is at the top of the school for music and has hopes of making a living some time by playing the piano.
Mr. Smith is naturally pleased that his oldest daughter is doing so well, but it's a little hard on a man who has been working all day to have scales played in the living-room when he's looking forward to a little peace and a quiet smoke. Not that Mr. Smith gets much chance of resting. It is almost certain that when he come in there will be something waiting for him to do. It may be that a drain is stopped up, or that a shelf is needing to be fixed, or that the lock of a door is out of order. Whatever it is, Mrs. Smith gives him a kiss and says, "You might put that right, Jack, before you take off your dirty things."
After tea, while Mrs. Smith and Joan are clearing the table and Jim is cutting up firewood and getting buckets of coal, Mr. Smith is responsible for looking after Betty and Molly. Molly's idea of amusement is pulling her father's hair or playing with his silver watch. Betty, who is four years older than Molly, gets up on his knee with a request for a story. Mr. Smith is good at making up stories and Betty is never tired of hearing them. His best stories are about a little boy named Peter, who, by rubbing a stone which an old woman gave him, is able to get anything for which he has a desire. Another of his stories is about a man with a very short body and very long legs who goes about at night, stepping form roof-top to roof-top. When Joan comes to put Betty and Molly to bed, Betty says, "Please let me have one more story about Peter or the Long-legged Man before I go." Generally, Mr. Smith doesn't give way to her, but he goes and says good-night to her when she is in bed.
After the younger girls are in bed, Jim frequently gets his father to give him some help with something he's making. At present he is making a ship which is a copy of a warship he saw in a picture-paper. Some of the details are very complex, and when Mr. Smith gets interested they go on working without any thought of how the time is going, till Mrs. Smith makes Jim put his things away and sends him to bed.
Playing with his son and daughters takes Mr. Smith's mind off his troubles. These hours with his family are the best part of the day for him. Watching him when he is making some plaything with Jim or laughing at something Molly has said, it seems to Mrs. Smith that he is still only a boy himself. She is pleased that he is able to keep so young but it gives her the feeling that she is getting old before her time. It has been such a hard fight to keep a roof over their heads and she has never had any money for herself. Housework and washing have made her hands red and rough. She goes about in second-hand dresses. She does without face-powder and lipstick and never gets her hair waved as other women do. All this has made her a little bitter, and she is conscious that she sometimes says sharp things. At the end of the day, when she is tired, these troubling thoughts come into her mind.
When at last the house is quiet, Mr. Smith takes a seat by the fire and has a look at the paper. but after reading for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour he is unable to keep his eyes open, and he and Mrs. Smith put out the lights and go up to bed. Another long day is over.
NOTES 1
There are 50 international words (not taking into account the word international itself) which may be used in Basic in addition to the 850. Every one of these words is widely used in a great number of countries, though not necessarily in all and not necessarily in quite the same form as that used when talking English. In the last ten Steps, the learner will be given five of these international words in every Step, so that he may get their English forms into his head and be certain how they are used. the five words which have come into this Step are : cigarette , gas , piano , tea , tobacco.makes his living : that is, the money necessary for living. Living is used in this sense only after make and get.
hard-working : By expansion, hard = 'with much force, violent', and is used like an -ly form, as here, in the same sense. From working hard we get hard-working = doing much work.
income == money coming in regularly as payments, interest, profit.
lined with care : Lined = having lines. Care is used here in the sense, not of 'taking trouble', but of 'troubled feelings' -- about things from which one is responsible, about the future.
at work == working. This special use of at is like that in at peace (Step 35). It may be used in the same way with play and rest.
overall == dress or coat put on over all one's other clothing to keep it clean when one is working.
a family of four == a family formed of four persons. Take note of this use of of. -- In relation to a father and mother, family is frequently used in the limited sense of 'sons and/or daughters.'
a boy of ten == a boy who is ten years old. Take note of this way of saying how old a person is.
the youngest is two : A short way of saying 'is two years old.'
had given birth to : Giving birth to a baby is the act of producing it.
on the outskirts : The outskirts of a town are the parts on the edge of it, out in the direction of the country. Take note that the direction-word uses is on, not, in.
undoubtedly == without any doubt. There is no form doubtedly.
as he says : A form of words put in to make clear that one is giving an account of what another person has said.
folding bed == 'bed for folding', that is, one which may be folded and so on to take less space when not in use.
a small open space : An open space is space outdoors without buildings and so on on it.
papers == newspapers.
letter-boxes : Letter-box == opening in a door through which letters are put, generally into a box.
get out of doing == get free from the need to do, from having to do. The picture to have in mind here is that a person getting out of a boat or train or cart which is going in a direction in which he has no desire to go.
keep himself : A person is said to keep himself when he makes his living, or to keep another person when he regularly gives him the money and so needed for living.
the houses he goes to regularly : A regular event is one which takes place at fixed times again and again and the sense of regularly here comes from this.
screwdriver == instrument for putting in and taking out screws.
two or three hours' work == working going on for two or three hours. The owner-form of time-words is commonly used in this sense. One or two and two or three are used loosely for a small number.
money for the gas : in houses in England where gas is used for lighting and cooking, payment for this is sometimes made by putting money into an automatic machine.
Which is, happily, cheap : Here, happily == by a good chance, such as to make one happy.
a good strong cup of tea == a cup of good strong tea. A strong liquid is one which as a great amount of some other substance in it (in this example, tea) in relation to the amount of water and so on with which it is mixed.
wasted . . . on cigarettes : Take notice of this use of on after wasted.
as she puts it == as she says. When talking, one puts one's thoughts into words, so the way one puts a thing is the way, that is the words, in which one says it.
unlike most of his sex : The two groups based on the fact of being male or female (sex) are named sexes.
Joan . . . is rough : Here, rough == violent. The connection between this sense and the root sense is seen in the example or a rough sea, which is, at the same time, violent in motion and the opposite of smooth.
crying : This is, unhappy crying, with wet eyes.
impossible == unpossible. Two or three of the words listed as forming opposites with un- more normally do so with im- or in-. Attention to these details will make your use of the language seem more natural to an English person, though they are not important enough for learners to be trouble with them in the early stages.
your parting : Parting == separating (into parts). From this, the word gets the special sense of 'line of division in hair' or the part in your hair.
you bad boy : Bad is he word used of boys and girls whose behaviour gives trouble. Those who give no trouble are good.
love of opening . . . doors : Love may be used loosely, as here, for one's feelings for something which is pleasing to one, has an attraction for one. In this sense it is used with of.
baby-carriage == small hand-cart for taking a baby about in.
irons : the instrument, made of iron or steel, which is heated and used for making linen and so on smooth is named an iron.
ironing == (work of) using an iron.
needlework == stitching, work done with a needle.
playing scales : In music, a scale is a range of notes with fixed spaces between them.
the most valued : One sense of valuing is 'looking on as having great value for one'.
Mr. Smith's relations : A person who is in a family relation to another, that is, of the same family, is a relation.
mother-in-law == mother of the man or woman on is married to. In the same say, one may be a father-in-law, a brother-in-law, or a sister-in-law. The relation of a man or woman to his or her mother-in-law is that of son-in-law. or daughter-in-law.
learning the piano == learning the art of playing the piano.
high marks : A mark is here the unit by which the quality of school work is measured.
she is at the top of the school : A way of saying that her work is the best in the school, being at the top of the scale by which the quality of the work is measures.
has hopes of making a living some time : Sometime is used for 'at some time in the future.'
a little peace : By expansion, peace == condition of quite, rest, condition of being free from trouble.
not that == : it is not that. A form of words used in starting a statement designed to keep anyone from getting the wrong idea.
stopped up : A hole, pipe, and so on which is stopped up is one which has something in it stopping anything from getting through. This is an example of the use of up which was noted in connection with dressed up. See, in addition, cutting up, used in this Step.
out of order : A thing which is working (in the right way) is said to be in order, no doubt because the right order of the parts of a machine and so on is one of the chief conditions of smooth operation. Out of order is 'not working' or 'not working well'.
after tea : A meal in the later part of the day, with cakes and so on, at which tea is taken is named tea. It will be noted that the word is used in the sense without a or the.
clearing the table == taking things off the table so that it is clear. Clear is one of a group of Basic names of qualities which have an -ing and an -ed form but no -er form. These may be used by the learner when he gets past the early stages of learning Basic.
cutting up == making into bits by cutting.
looking after == taking care of.
four years older than : Take note that words making clear the degree to which one thing is different to another are put, like much, before a form for comparison.
on his knee : That part of the legs of a seated person forming a seat or support is named the knee.
making up stories : Make up is used for the process of invention in connection with such things as stories.
a stone == a bit of stone.
a very short body : Body is used for that part of the body to which the legs and arms and neck are joined.
long-legged == having long legs. Certain words which do not take -er or -ing take -ed to give the sense of 'with'.
give way to :To give way to a person is to do or let him do what is desired by him.
says good night : A form like good morning, which, however, is used only on parting.
warship == ship for use in war.
picture-paper : A picture-paper is a newspaper and so on with more pictures than print.
watching == looking at, keeping an eye on. The connection with watch comes from the idea that a watch keeps an eye on the time for us.
laughing at something : Take note that laughing and something are used with at.
getting old before her time == becoming like an old woman before the normal time for her to do so.
to keep a roof over their heads == to keep the family housed and so on.
second-hand dresses : Second-hand goods are those goods which are put on the market for a second time, after they have been used.
has made her a little bitter : A person who has been given a bad-humoured outlook by bitter experience said to be bitter.
another long day is over : The sense of over here is 'at an end'.
The sense of these complex words is clear without a note : face-powder, poorest-looking, roof-top, window-cleaner, window-cleaning.
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1 . All the notes and tests at the end of the last ten Steps are given in Basic.
TEST
1 . Make use of these words in two different senses :| (a) care | (e) iron |
| (b) strong | (f) mark |
| (c) relation | (g) over |
| (d) living | (h) tea |
2 . Make these statements complete by putting a word in every space :
- (a) He took a comb and made a straight _____ in his hair.
(b) I put some money in the automatic machine but the machine was _____ _____ _____, so I didn't get a ticket.
(c) It is impossible to get this screw out without a _____.
(d) The pipe was _____ _____ by some leaves which had got into it.
(e) After the rain was _____, the sun came out again.
(f) His story seemed so strange that I was certain he had _____ _____ _____.
(g) James is a young man _____ nineteen. He is not very tall because, though he has long legs, his _____ is short.
(h) When I am cooking, I put on _____ _____ to keep my dress clean.
3 . Put a different word or words with the same sense in place of the words in sloping print :
- (a) Who is taking care of the old man now ?
(b) We got the piano cheap because it had been used.
(c) Mrs. Edwards is living in the house of the man to whom her daughter is married.
(d) I put more tea in when I made it this time.
(e) Will the man be working here tomorrow ?
(f) It is not possible for Mary to come at present because she is taking the things off the table for her mother.
(g) What you said was true but you might have said it more kindly.
4 . Make clear, in Basic, the sense of these :
| (a) income | (e) out of order |
| (b) outskirts | (f) give way to |
| (c) unprotestingly | (g) make up |
| (d) letter-box |
5 . Make statements using these forms in the senses made clear in this Step :
| (a) clearing | (d) ironing |
| (b) valued | (e) watched |
| (c) lined | (f) crying |
6. Who, in your view, has most to put up with, Mr. Smith or Mrs. Smith?
7 . Put into Basic : Teacher Link
8 . Give the answer in Basic :
| (a) What is Mrs. Smith's opinion about tea ? |
| (b) What answer does Mr. Smith give to Mrs. Smith when she is shocked a the amount of money he gives for tobacco? |
| (c) Who is there in the Smith family? |
| (d) Give a short account of the place where the Smiths are living. |
| (e) How does Jim make money? |
| (f) Mr. Smith makes up stories for his small daughter. What are some of them about? |
| (g) How does Mr. Smith make a living and why is his income uncertain? |
| (h) Give an account of Mrs. Smith's day. |
| (i) Why is thee sometimes a sound of crying when Joan is dressing Molly? |
| (j) Why are Jim and his sisters sometimes late in starting for school? |
| (k) What does Mr. Smith have to do when he comes back at night? |
| (l) Why is Mrs. Smith not very happy? |