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Listening For Numbers: Ielts Tip

This document provides information about listening for and describing measurements in English. It discusses: - The metric and imperial systems of measurement and common measurement units for length, weight, area, volume and temperature. - How to describe measurements using adjectives and prepositional phrases like "in length" or "in width". - Giving the dimensions of objects by separating figures with "and", "by", or "x". - Examples of written and spoken forms for measurements. - Common two-dimensional shapes like triangles, circles, rectangles and three-dimensional shapes like spheres, cones and cubes.

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94 views3 pages

Listening For Numbers: Ielts Tip

This document provides information about listening for and describing measurements in English. It discusses: - The metric and imperial systems of measurement and common measurement units for length, weight, area, volume and temperature. - How to describe measurements using adjectives and prepositional phrases like "in length" or "in width". - Giving the dimensions of objects by separating figures with "and", "by", or "x". - Examples of written and spoken forms for measurements. - Common two-dimensional shapes like triangles, circles, rectangles and three-dimensional shapes like spheres, cones and cubes.

Uploaded by

George Prodan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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STUDY NOTES

EPISODE 16: LISTENING FOR NUMBERS

LISTENING FOR NUMBERS


Listening for or referring to size, height,
weight, distance, area and temperature is
another aspect of numbers which is
important to practise for the IELTS test.
These are units of measurement which are
used to describe, for example, the
dimensions of an object, the height and
weight of a person or the distance to/from
something.
There are two systems of measurement
the metric system and the imperial system.
The latter is commonly used in the US, while
the metric system is used in Australia, more
widely now in the UK and in other Englishspeaking countries.

IELTS Tip
Practise listening for numbers.
They can occur in any section of
the listening test.
You may be required to listen out
for a telephone number,
someones height or weight, the
number of a bank account, a
sports score, the cost of a gift, the
dimensions of an object and
others.

Each of the systems has its own measurement nouns for different measuring units.
Measurement nouns
Here is a list of those metric and imperial measurement nouns. Abbreviations are
given in brackets. Note the spellings: litre, metre (British English), liter, meter (North
America English) and others.
Measurement Units
size, length, distance,
height
weight
volume (liquid)
area
temperature

Measurement nouns
Metric
Imperial
millimetre/millimeter (ml),
inch (in), foot (ft), yard (yd),
centimetre/centimeter (cm), metre/meter
mile (m), acre
(m), kilometre/kilometer (km), hectare (ha)
milligram (mg), gram (g), kilogram (kg),
ounce (oz), pound (lb)*, ton (t)
tonne (t)
*compare = pounds
(currency)
millilitre/milliliter (ml), centilitre/ centiliter
pint (pt), quart (qt), gallon (gal)
(cl), litre/liter (l)
2
2
square centimetres (sq cm or cm )
square feet (sq ft, ft )
2
2
square metres (sq m or m )
square yards (sq yd, yd )
Celsius (C), Centigrade
Fahrenheit (F)

Describing size, length, distance, height or area


When describing size, length, distance, height, weight or area an adjective or
prepositional phrase can often follow the measurement noun to indicate more
precisely what the measurement is referring to. Examples are on the following page.

Page 1 of 3

Examples
Measurement unit
size
height

length and distance


weight

volume
area

Adjective/Prepositional phrase
The front garden is 6 metres wide.
The fabric is 2 feet in width.
Sally is now 4 feet tall*.
The mountain is only 9000 metres high*.
The flagpole is 12 metres in height.
*tall vs. high tall is used in reference to people, while high is used in
measuring something from the bottom to the top.
The country road is only 900 metres long.
The service road was 200 yards in length.
The electric lead is 25 metres long.
The bag of wheat is 25 kilograms in weight.
The average sedan is 1 tonne in weight.
International air travellers baggage is restricted to 23 kilograms in
weight.
The bucket carries 2 gallons in volume.
The petrol tank of the Honda can take 60 litres in volume.
The garage is 90 square metres in area.
The average residential block of land in Sydney is 7500 square feet in
area.

Here is a list of the more common adjectives and prepositional phrases used in such
measurements.
Adjectives
high, tall, long, thick, wide, deep, distant

Prepositional phrases
in size, in area, in distance, in height, in
length, in width, in weight, in thickness, in
diameter, in depth, in volume

Dimensions
The size of objects, areas and other things can also be described according to their
dimensions, i.e. their length, width, height, depth or diameter. When giving the
dimensions of something, the figures are separated using and, by or the
multiplication symbol x (pronounced by).
Dimensions
length, width,
height, depth,
diameter

Examples
The chopping board is ten inches wide and two feet long.
The vase is 12 centimetres in diameter and 25 centimetres deep.
The sheet of plywood is 1.8 metres long by 12 millimetres thick.
The dance hall measures 60 feet by 80 feet.
The dining room measures 5 metres wide x 6 metres deep x 2.4 metres high.
The cattle farm is 60 kilometres in width and 150 kilometres in length.
The island to the north is 25 miles wide by 60 miles long.

Units of temperatures
Temperatures are commonly given in degrees Celsius (C) or sometimes referred to
as Centigrade. The US, however, uses degrees Fahrenheit (F).
Temperature unit
C or Centigrade
F

Examples
The maximum temperature recorded at Observatory Hill this year was 42 C.
Water boils at 100 C or 212 F.
A comfortable room temperature is 23 Centigrade.

Page 2 of 3

Written and spoken forms of measurement


Here are some examples of written and spoken forms of measurement.
Measurement units
length, height and
distance

weight

area

volume

Written
5' 7", 5ft 7in
2.75 cm
450 km
32 ha
250 g
4 oz
2.4 lb
17.15 kg
2
5.75 cm
2
2 sq m, 2m
34 sq ft
22 cl
4 qt
6.5 gal

Spoken
five feet seven inches
two point seven five centimetres
four hundred and fifty kilometres
thirty-two hectares
two hundred and fifty grams
four ounces
two point four pounds
seventeen point one five kilograms
five point seven five square centimetres
two square metres
thirty-four square feet
twenty-two centilitres
four quarts
six point five gallons

Shapes
In addition to listening for and referring to size, area and volume of objects using
measurement units, it is also important to be familiar with the shape of objects and
things. Shapes can be either two- or three-dimensional.
Here is a list of two-dimensional shapes. These word forms are commonly used for
descriptions.
Two-dimensional shapes
Adjectives
Nouns
triangular
triangle
circular
circle
semi-circular
semi-circle
rectangular
rectangle
square
pentagonal
octagonal
oval
n/a

square
pentagon
octagon
oval
parallelogram

Description
three straight sides and three angles
completely round
one of two equal halves of a circle
four straight sides with opposites of equal length and four 90
angles
four straight equal sides and 90 angles
five sides and five equal angles
eight sides and eight equal angles
squashed circle
opposite sides are parallel

Here is a list of three-dimensional shapes. These word forms are also commonly
used for descriptions.
Three-dimensional shapes
Adjectives
Nouns
spherical
sphere
conical
cone
cylindrical
cylinder
cubic, cubed
cube
pyramidal
pyramid

Description
shape of a basketball
shape of a pointed hollow ice cream cone
shape of an oil tanker long straight sides and circular ends
shape of an ice cube six equal square sides
shape of a pyramid commonly four triangular walls on a square
base

Page 3 of 3

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