Show 449 Thursday 26 July

Watch today's show at YouTube.

Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.

Thank you to everyone who commented on Tuesday’s show so far – it’s really interesting to see where everyone’s from. I’m going to wait a few more days and then check how many different countries people are watching from.

And today I’m going to talk about numbers. A lot of people have difficulty saying numbers. So I thought I’d give you some examples.

1.6 one point six
2 1/2 two and a half
1/4 a quarter
3/4 three quarters
7/8 seven eighths
400 four hundred

Remember after hundred you say and, but after thousand you don’t.
So it’s:

405 four hundred and five
450 four hundred and fifty
1845 one thousand, eight hundred and forty five
1,234,557 one million, two hundred and thirty four thousand, five hundred and fifty seven

If this number (1945) was a price, it would be, for example, one thousand nine hundred and forty five dollars.
But if it was a year it would be nineteen forty five.

Years are usually pronounced like that:
1945 nineteen forty five
1988 nineteen eighty eight

But an interesting thing happened when we hit 2000. People called it the year 2000. And the years after that were (2001) two thousand and one, (2002) two thousand and two ...
This year is (2007) two thousand and seven. Well that’s how I say it.
But some people also say twenty oh seven. So ... I’m not sure which one is more common.

For phone numbers you say each digit like this: 356 8812 three five six eight eight one two.

Or if was a number like this: 425 6333, you could say, four two five six triple three.

For time, remember the word like hours or minutes, comes at the end:

So it’s:
2 and a half hours
3 and a half weeks
4 and a half minutes

You can’t say 2 hours and a half.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, this is Stick News. Over the last week there have been floods in many parts of the United Kingdom. According to Wikipedia, 11 people have died and up to one million people have been affected.

Last month it rained a lot in the United Kingdom. This month the rain continued.
There has been flooding in many areas of the UK. This is a map showing the English counties affected in June and July floods.
Damage to business and property is estimated to be over £2 billion, with 5,000 businesses and 27,000 homes affected.
The rescue efforts have been described as the biggest in peacetime Britain.
Some houses are still without water. Others have water that isn’t safe to drink – but can be used for baths, showers and flushing toilets.
Eleven people have died in the floods – including two people who died trying to pump water out of a rugby club.
The BBC reported farmers' livelihoods have been devastated and now food shortages and raised prices are expected.
The managing director of a fruit and vegetable distributor was quoted as saying:
"I don't want to exaggerate the problem we've got, but if I say it's a crisis, I'll be telling it exactly like it is."

And that was Stick News for Thursday the 26th of July.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#275 Have you ever been in a flood?

Step 1: Repeat Sam’s lines.
Step 2: Read Sam’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Sam Have you ever been in a flood?

Sarah Yeah, when I was a kid.

Sam What happened?

Sarah It was in 1985 and there was a big flood in the Coromandel – that’s the area where I grew up.

Sam Did water come into your house?

Sarah Yeah, it did. But actually that night I was staying at my friend’s house and their house was destroyed by the flood.

Sam Did you get out of the house OK?

Sarah Yeah, we couldn’t get out the front door so we had to climb out the bathroom window.

Sam Where did you go?

Sarah We went up the hill. They had a barn up the hill so we stayed there.

Sam Did anyone die?

Sarah Yeah, I think one person did. I didn’t know her though. I just read about it in the paper.

music

show start, cws start, qa start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
tracks: Superheros, Intellectuel, Three ways to run away
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm

artist: pharmacopia
album: For The Stilling Of Volcanoes
track: Journey Inside
from: Boonton, United States
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site