The reading of 0 (nought, zero, nil, o, love)

The figure 0 is normally read nought [no:t] in Br.E., and zero [zi-erou] in Am.E. It is replaced, in general use, by the negative determiner no or the pronoun none:

There were no survivors from the air disaster.

None of the passengers or crew survived.

 

In measurements (e.g., of temperature), 0 is called zero:

It’s five degrees below zero.

It’s 0° F ( read: zero degrees Fahrenheit).

-8° C ( read: eight degrees below zero Centigrade).

When numbers are said figure by figure (e.g., in telephone numbers), 0 is often called [ ou ] (like the letter o):

My account number is 41326069 (read: four one three two six o six nine).

 

Nil [nil] or nothing is used in football or other team-games:

Brazil won 4 – 0 (read: four nil / (to) nothing).

Manchester three, Liverpool nil.

Love is used in tennis and similar games. (This expression is derived from the French l’oeuf, meaning ‘the egg’, presumably because zero is egg-shaped (0):

5 – 0, your service; (read: five – love).

The reading of dates

The year:

When reading or speaking the word hundred may be used but thousand is usually not:

He was born in 1957 (nineteen fifty-seven,or nineteen hundred and fifty-seven).

Years before the Christian era are followed by the letters B.C. (= b efore C hrist). Years after the Christian era may be followed by the letters A.D. (= A nno D omini [Lat.: in the year of our Lord]):

1500 B.C. = fifteen hundred B.C. (in this case it is also possible to say one thousand five hundred B.C)

The days and months:

Though the days and months may be written in different ways:

He was born on 5 May

May 5

5th May

5th of May

May 5th (mostly AmE),

when reading or speaking they use ordinal numerals, so they say:

He was born on May the fifth or the fifth of May

Telling the time

Times of the clock are read out in full as follows:

At 5 at five (o’clock)

At 5.15 at five fifteen, at a quarter past five, at a quarter after five (AmE)

At 5.30 at five thirty, at half past five

At 5.45 at five forty-five, at a quarter to six, at a quarter of six (AmE)

At 5.50 at five fifty, at ten (minutes) to six

At 6.10 at ten (minutes) past six, at ten minutes after six (AmE ); at six ten canbe used when one is referring e.g. to a timetable.

Fractions

Fractions are read out in full as follows:

Simple fractions are expressed by using ordinal numbers (third/s, fourth/s, fifth/s, etc.):

¹ / ₂ (a) half They stayed (for) a half hour / half an hour

¹ / ₄ a quarter They stayed (for) a quater of an hour

¹ / ₁₀ a/one tenth a tenth of the population

³ / ₄ three quarter s three quater s of an hour

² / ₃ two-third s two third s of the population

1 ¹ / ₂ one and a half one and a half hour s or an hour and a half

3 ¹ / ₅ three and a/one fifth three and a fifth inche s

NOTE:

a) the expression one and a half takes a plural noun (e.g. one and a half kilometer s);

b) expressions like ¾ hour, ⁷ / ₁₀ mile are said ‘ three quarters of an hour, seven tenths of a mile’.

 

 

More complex fractions are often expressed by using the word over: ³¹⁷ / ₅₀₉ – three hundred and seventeen over five hundred and nine.

 

Decimals are read out in full, with each figure separate.

NOTE: they use a full stop (called ‘ point ’), not a comma, before the fraction:

2.5 – two point five

3.14 – three point one four (three point fourteen)

0.78 – point seventy-eight (point seven eight) or nought point seventy-eight (US: zero point seventy-eight)

How to write numbers

 

In writing numerals may be spelled out or be represented by figures: Boing 567.

NOTE:

In writing, commas (but not full stops) are used to separate thousands: 100, 456; 1, 000, 000; 1, 908, 367, 849.