3. The Numeral

There is a hyphen between tens and digits, e.g. twenty-two, one hundred and eighty-seven

3. Fraction

½ - a half

2 ½ - two and a half

¼ - a quarter

¾ - three quarters (three fourth)

4. Decimals:

in English a ‘point’, not a comma, is used in decimal fractions!

We read the digits after the point separately.

0.5 - oh (OR: nought) point five

2.5 - two point five

0.75 - oh point seven five

5. Ways of saying the number 0:

- generally, the figure ‘0’ is usually called ‘nought’ in BrE, and ‘zero’ in AmE.

- in temperatures say zero to refer to freezing point (0 Celsius)

7. Ordinal numbers

a) The article ‘the’ normally precedes ordinal numbers, e.g. the seventh day of the week.

c) We use the ordinal numbers, preceded by ‘the’, in titles of kings in spoken English, e.g. Elizabeth the Second

8. Saying the numbers of years:

1066 - ten sixty-six

1605 - sixteen oh five

We don’t say ‘year’ after the number, we may say ‘the year 2005’ but before the number.

9. Dates

a) We have two ways of saying the dates, e.g. 10 March

- the tenth of March (3 elements added in spoken English!) - British English

- March (the) tenth (2 elements added in spoken English!) - American English

b)

BC - Before Christ (Polish ‘p.n.e.’) - after the date;

c) If we write dates in numbers only, we often use slashes, not dots, e.g. 3/11/89. NB: we do not use ‘0’ before single digits.

11. Telling the time

a) There are 3 ways of telling the time:

- the informal (e.g. at home)

6.10 - ten past six (in the morning)

7.03 - three minutes past seven (in the morning); AmE also: three minutes after seven

8.55 - five to nine (in the morning)

- the quite formal (e.g. on the radio) - the 12-hour clock

7.03 - seven oh three

12.00 - twelve a.m.

- the formal (e.g. for timetables) - the 24-hour clock

6.10 - six ten

10.30 - ten thirty

c) We never use ‘o’clock’ together with ‘a.m.’ or ‘p.m.’.

12. Money

a) we put the symbols before the number, e.g. $200, PLN 500.

b) $46.80 is read forty-six dollars eighty cents;

13. Telephone / room etc numbers

a) They are read separately, e.g. Room 106 - room number one oh six.

c) shortenings in British English: 22 - double two; 999 - triple nine etc. (American English: 22 - two two)

CARD #7

2. Teaching and learning

If all good people were clever and all clever people were good, the world would be nicer than ever. Education is a process of gaining knowledge, learning basic skills (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic) and cognition. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages.

The purpose of education is to create responsible, productive and socially contributing citizens - people who can provide for their own families as well as contribute to their communities.

Every country has its own system of education. The public educational system consist of pre-school, general school, specialized secondary and higher education.

Pre-school consists of kindergartens. Children there learn reading, writing and arithmetic. But pre-school education isn't compulsory - children can get it at home.

Compulsory education is for children from 7 to 17 years of age.

The main branch in the system of education is the general schools which prepare the younger generation for life and work. The term of study in a general secondary school is 11 years. The aims for secondary education are to learn basic skills, to develop intellectual abilities, to faster love for nature and Motherland, respect for elderly people and also physical, social and mental developments. Schools are the first step on the education-way. Schools help young people to choose their career, to prepare for their future life; they make pupils clever and well-educated and they give pupils the opportunity to fulfill their talent. Pupils, who finish the general secondary school, receive a secondary education certificate, giving them the right to enter any higher educational establishment.

Higher educational institutions train students in one or several specializations. The basic purpose of university is to give a first-class education in theories and principles to enable their students to reach a high standard of creativeness, criticism and flexibility. They do have to teach how to acquire, increase and employ knowledge. The main duty of the universities is to produce well-educated people who can construct the future and adapt to it.

There are many ways of learning. Man always tries to learn, find out, and discover more about the world around him. He gets knowledge at school, universities, from books, magazines, from TV educational programs. The pupils can get deeper knowledge in different optional courses in different subjects. Computers and mobile phones are used in many countries to develop new ways of learning such as distance education. This gives students the opportunity to choose what they are interested in learning. One of the most effective way of learning is self-education. It may involves the mastery and practice of the methods of thinking, the understanding of theories, the solution of problems, analysis and criticism of lectures, books and articles, the making of summaries and extracts the writing of essays, reports and these. In short people have to digest knowledge from a wide variety of sources.

Education is very important in our life. An educated person is one who knows a lot about many things. Education plays an important role in the life of every country as it provides the country with the highly-qualified specialists for its further development and progress.