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[3:33] English Listening: Correctly Expressing Dollar Amounts and Common Currency Usage

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This article explains how to correctly express dollar amounts in English, including the use of singular and plural forms, the distinction between dollars and bills, and common expressions for dollars and other currencies. It is suitable for English listening learners, travelers, and business communication.

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Listen to this short conversation. Pay attention to the way they state the dollar amount. Do you have a dollar? Sorry, I only have a $5 bill. Have you ever wondered when people say a dollar and when they say one dollar? The answer is that we almost never say one dollar because it's not necessary. Ah, means one. And then did you hear the man say dollar or dollars? He said dollar because in this case it's an adjective. I'll show you some more examples of this.

The sentence I have $10 is stating an amount of money and dollars is a plural noun. I have a $10 bill is talking about the paper currency, the bill. So $10 is being used as an adjective. And in English adjectives are not plural. Here are some other examples. This candy bar weighs three ounces. It's a three ounce candy bar. The trip takes three hours. It's a three hour trip.

Okay, just a couple of additional tips when you're talking about dollars and cents. A dollar. A dollar twenty-five. A dollar fifty. We can also say a quarter or a half. We say and very quickly. And it links with the next word ah, so it sounds like enna. A dollar and a quarter. A dollar and a half. If you have larger amounts, you say it a bit differently. Maybe that's why we usually only say a quarter or a half with a dollar, not with larger amounts. Instead we say two dollars and fifty cents.

So to review, here are several ways to express dollars. The end is optional. Sometimes people get confused because both percentages and dollars have decimal points. But they're stated differently. We say point in percentages and we read each digit. If there's a zero, we say zero or o. Practice saying these amounts. Then listen. There may be more than one possibility. A dollar. A dollar fifty. A dollar and a half. Four fifty. Four dollars and fifty cents. Ten fifty. Ten dollars and fifty cents. A hundred dollars. A hundred and twenty five dollars. One point two five percent. Forty percent. Six point two percent.

So far, I've been talking about expressing money amounts in dollars. But of course, you need to talk about other currencies. Here are some other typical expressions that you might need for business or travel. US dollar is worth one point three eight Canadian right now. The end is high against the dollar. The currency rate is favorable to travel in China because the Remmin B is weak compared to the dollar. Right now, the strong currency is hurting exports.

Listening Comprehension

adjective
noun
1. the word class that qualifies nouns
2. a word that expresses an attribute of something
currency
noun
1. general acceptance or use
e.g. the currency of ideas
2. the property of belonging to the present time
e.g. the currency of a slang term
Synonym: currentnessup-to-dateness
3. the metal or paper medium of exchange that is presently used
decimal
noun
1. a number in the decimal system
2. a proper fraction whose denominator is a power of 10
Synonym: decimal fraction
plural
noun
1. the form of a word that is used to denote more than one
Synonym: plural form
quarter
noun
1. clemency or mercy shown to a defeated opponent
e.g. he surrendered but asked for quarter
2. piece of leather that comprises the part of a shoe or boot covering the heel and joining the vamp
3. the rear part of a ship
Synonym: sternafter partpooptail
4. a district of a city having some distinguishing character
e.g. the Latin Quarter
5. an unspecified person
e.g. he dropped a word in the right quarter
6. a United States or Canadian coin worth one fourth of a dollar
e.g. he fed four quarters into the slot machine
7. a quarter of a hundredweight (28 pounds)
8. a quarter of a hundredweight (25 pounds)
9. one of four equal parts
e.g. a quarter of a pound
Synonym: one-fourthfourthone-quarterfourth parttwenty-five percentquartern
10. one of the four major division of the compass
e.g. the wind is coming from that quarter
11. a fourth part of a year
three months
e.g. unemployment fell during the last quarter
12. one of four periods into which the school year is divided
e.g. the fall quarter ends at Christmas
13. a unit of time equal to 15 minutes or a quarter of an hour
e.g. it's a quarter til 4
a quarter after 4 o'clock
14. (football, professional basketball) one of four divisions into which some games are divided
e.g. both teams scored in the first quarter