Practice English Vocabulary Exercises – Vocabulary for Banking and Finance: Numbers and statistics

A. Match the numbers with the phrases.

Notes

For American English, change nought and oh to zero: 0.01 = “zero point zero one”

An alternative to “nought point one” is “point one”.

In the past the US and the UK had different meanings for billion and trillion. Occasionally, therefore, in the UK, billion may mean [1 plus 12 zeros], and trillion may mean [1 + 18 zeros].

B. Match the numbers with the phrases.

C. Answer the questions.

1   “Three plus two …………………. five.” Which is not possible?

        a   equals       

        b   makes       

        c   is       

        d   comes to       

        e   does

2   Which is not a very usual way to say $7.90?

        a   seven ninety       

        b   seven dollars ninety       

        c   seven dollars and ninety cents

        d   seven point nine dollars

3   Choose the best words to fill the spaces

     In PC Planet, the Micron X9000 desktop computer …………………. $999.95.

        a   is for sale at       

        b   retails at       

        c   is bought at

4   I’ll work it out and give you the …………………. tomorrow morning.

        a   figures       

        b   numbers       

        c   numerals

5   “I don’t care how you worked it out. Just tell me the bottom line.” Bottom line =

        a   amount of profit       

        b   final result of a calculation       

        c   total losses

6   What’s the best way to say anna.brown@globalindustries.com

        a   “Anna point brown at global industries dot com”

        b   “Anna dot brown at global industries dot com”

7   Alan earns £10k a year, Bella earns £20k a year and Cathy earns £60k a year. What’s their mean annual income?

        a   £20,000       

        b   £30,000       

        c   £60,000

8   Reference code 14/689G. What’s the best way to say this?

        a   “fourteen slash six eight nine G”       

        b   “fourteen, six hundred and eighty-nine G”

9   The subtotal of credits is £8m and the subtotal of debits is £10m. What’s the total?

        a   “less two million pounds”       

        b   “negative two million pounds”

        c   “minus two million pounds”

10   In most English-speaking countries, how do you write “minus two thousand five hundred and seventy”?

        a   –2.570       

        b   2.570–       

        c   –2,570

11   Which two are not another way to say “about fifty”

        a   around fifty       

        b   fifty-ish      

        c   fifty, up or down

        d   fifty, more or less      

        e   fifty or thereabouts       

        f   fifty or so

        g   in the region of fifty       

        h   on the fifty       

        i    fifty, give or take