English Writing

Numbers: differences between American and British usage

British money

Three are 100 pence in a pound. Sums of money are named as follows:

1 p    one penny or a penny
5 p    five pence

American money

There are 100 cents in a dollar. Sums of money are named very much as in British English. Some coins have special names. One-cent coins are called pennies; five-cent coins are called nickels; ten-cent coins are dimes; a twenty-five cent coin is a quarter.

Floors

The ground floor of a British house is the first floor of an American house; the British first floor is the American second floor.

Billion

In American English, a billion is a thousand million. This is now generally true in British English, but a British billion used to be a million million.

Sections In This Article

Numbers Cardinal and ordinal numbers Fractions and decimals Numbers: differences between American and British usage

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