You can refer to a size, area, volume, weight, distance, speed, or temperature by using a number or general determiner in front of a measurement noun.
They grow to twenty feet.
At this point, the city covered approximately 6 hectares.
...blocks of stone weighing up to a hundred tons.
They may travel as far as 70 kilometres in their search for fruit.
Reduce the temperature by a few degrees.
◊ metric and imperial measurements
In Britain, two systems of measurement are used -- the metric system and the imperial system. The metric system is now commonly used for most purposes, but the imperial system is still used for people's heights and weights, drinks in pubs, distances on road signs, and sports such as cricket, football, and horseracing.
Each system has its own measurement nouns, as shown in the table opposite. Their abbreviations are shown in brackets.
If you are using metric units, you use decimal numbers. For example, you say that something is '1.68 metres long' or weighs '4.8 kilograms'. With imperial units, fractions are often used instead, for example 'six and three-quarter inches' or 'one and a half tons of wheat'.
'Kilo' is sometimes used instead of 'kilogram', and 'metric ton' instead of 'tonne'.
In America, the metric system is not commonly used, except for military, medical, and scientific purposes. The spellings 'meter' and 'liter' are used instead of 'metre' and 'litre'. The terms 'stone' and 'hundredweight' are very rarely used. Note that U.S. pints, quarts, and gallons are different from British ones.
◊ size
When you want to state the size of something, you usually use a number, a measurement noun, and an adjective. The verb you use is 'be'.
The water was fifteen feet deep.
The altar is to be 90 centimetres high.
One of the layers is six metres thick.
He was about six feet tall.
As well as the plural form 'feet', the singular form 'foot' can be used with numbers.
The spears were about six foot long.
If you are expressing size using feet and inches, you do not have to say 'inches'. For example, you can say that something is 'two foot six long'.
However, you do not say 'two feet six' or 'two foot six inches'.
He's Italian, and immensely tall, six feet six inches.
The following adjectives can be used after measurement nouns indicating size:
deep, high, long, tall, thick, wide
Note that you do not use adjectives such as 'narrow', 'shallow', 'low', or 'thin'.
When mentioning someone's height, you can use the adjective 'tall' or leave it out.
She was six feet tall.
He was six foot six.
Note that you do not use the adjective 'high' for people.
When describing how wide something is, you can use 'across' instead of 'wide'.
...a squid that was 21 metres long with eyes 40 centimetres across.
Instead of using an adjective when stating size, you can use one of the following prepositional phrases after the measurement noun.
in depth, in height, in length, in thickness, in width
They are thirty centimetres in length.
He was five feet seven inches in height.
When asking a question about the size of something, you use 'how' and the adjectives listed earlier. You can also use the less specific adjective 'big'.
How tall is he?
How big is it going to be?
◊ size of circular objects and areas
If you are talking about the size of a circular object or area, you can give its circumference (edge measurement) or diameter (width) using 'in circumference' or 'in diameter'.
Some of its artificial lakes are ten or twenty kilometres in circumference.
They are about nine inches in diameter.
You can also say that something has a 'radius' (half the diameter) of a particular length. However, you do not say 'in radius'.
It had a radius of fifteen kilometres.
◊ size by dimensions
If you want to describe the size of an object or area fully, you can give its dimensions; that is, you can give the measurements for its length and width, or length, width, and depth. When you give the dimensions of an object or area, you separate the figures using 'and', 'by', or the multiplication sign 'x'. You use the verb 'be' or 'measure'.
Each frame was four metres tall and sixty-six centimetres wide.
The island measures about 25 miles by 12 miles.
It was an oblong box about fifteen by thirty centimetres.
The box measures approximately 26 inches wide x 25 inches deep x 16 inches high.
As shown above, you can use adjectives such as 'long' and 'wide' or leave them out.
You can add 'in size' after the dimensions if you want to be precise.
...two sections, each 2 x 2 x 1 metres in size.
◊ area
Area is often expressed by using 'square' in front of units of length. For example, a 'square metre' has the same area as a square whose sides are one metre long.
He had cleared away about three square inches.
They are said to be as little as 300 sq cm.
...a couple of square yards.
You can add 'in area' if you want to be precise.
These hot spots are often hundreds of square miles in area.
If you are talking about a square object or area, you can give the length of each side followed by the word 'square'.
Each family has only one room eight or ten feet square.
...an area that is 25 km square.
◊ WARNING
Do not confuse the two uses of 'square'. A room five metres square has an area of twenty-five square metres.
When talking about large areas of land, the words 'hectare' and 'acre' are often used.
In 1975 there were 1,240 million hectares under cultivation.
His land covers twenty acres.
◊ volume
The volume of an object is the amount of space it occupies or contains.
Volume is usually expressed by using 'cubic' in front of units of length. For example, you can say '10 cubic centimetres' or '200 cubic feet'.
Its brain was close to 500 cubic centimetres (49 cubic inches).
Units of volume such as 'litre' and 'gallon' are used to refer to quantities of liquids and gases.
Wine production is expected to reach 4.1 billion gallons this year.
The amount of air being expelled is about 1,000 to 1,500 mls.
Note that, in Britain, 'a pint' by itself often refers to a pint of beer.
A lorry driver came into the pub for a pint.
◊ distance
You can indicate the distance from one thing to another by using a number and measurement noun in front of 'from', 'away from', or 'away'.
...when the fish are 60 yds from the beach.
These offices were approximately nine kilometres away from the centre.
She sat down about a hundred metres away.
Distance can also be indicated by stating the time taken to travel it.
It is half an hour from the Pinewood Studios and forty-five minutes from London.
They lived only two or three days away from Juffure.
The method of travelling can be stated to be more precise.
It is less than an hour's drive from here.
It's about five minutes' walk from the bus stop.
If you want to know the distance to a place, you use 'how far', usually with 'from', or with impersonal 'it' and 'to'.
How far is Chester from here?
How far is it to Charles City?
'How far is it?' ---'A hundred and fifty kilometres from here.'
Note that 'far' is not used when stating distances. See entry at ↑
◊ distance and position
To indicate both the distance and the position of something in relation to another place or object, the distance can be stated in front of the following prepositions:
above, across, along, behind, below, beneath, beyond, down, inside, into, off, out of, outside, over, past, under, underneath, up
He guessed that he was about ten miles above the surface.
Maurice was only a few yards behind him.
At a cafe a hundred metres down the street he again used the phone.
All the words in the list above, except 'across', 'into', 'over', and 'past', can be used as adverbs after the distance. The adverbs 'apart', 'in', 'inland', 'offshore', 'on', and 'out' can also be used.
These two fossils had been lying about 50 feet apart in the sand.
We were now forty miles inland.
A few metres further on were other unmistakable traces of disaster.
The distance can also be stated in front of phrases such as 'north of', 'to the east of', and 'to the left'.
He was some miles north of Ayr.
The low crest 1,000 metres away to the east was dimly visible.
The maker's name was engraved a millimetre to the right of the '2'.
It had exploded 100 yards to their right.
◊ weight
When you want to state how much an object or animal weighs, you use the verb 'weigh'.
The statue weighs fifty or more kilos.
The calf weighs 50 lbs.
When you want to state how much a person weighs, you can use 'weigh' or 'be'. In Britain, you usually use the singular form 'stone'.
He weighs about nine and a half stone.
You're about ten and a half stone.
If you express weight using stones and pounds, you can leave out the word 'pounds'. For example, you can say that someone weighs 'twelve stone four'. Note that you do not usually say 'twelve stones four' or 'twelve stone four pounds'.
You do not say 'two pounds heavy', but you can say 'two pounds in weight'.
I put on nearly a stone in weight.
In America, all weights are normally expressed in 'pounds' or 'tons'. 'Stone' and 'hundredweight' are very rarely used.
Philip Swallow weighs about 140 pounds.
Americans often omit the words 'hundred' and 'pounds' when talking about a person's weight.
I bet he weighs one seventy, at least.
When asking about the weight of something or someone, you can use 'how much' and 'weigh'.
How much does the whole thing weigh?
You can also use 'how heavy'.
How heavy are they?
◊ temperature
You express temperature using either degrees centigrade (often written °C), or degrees Fahrenheit (often written °F). In everyday language the metric term 'centigrade' is used, whereas in scientific language 'Celsius' is used to refer to the same scale of measurement.
The temperature was still 23 degrees centigrade.
...about 30 degrees Celsius.
It was 9°C, and felt much colder.
The temperature was probably 50°F.
If the scale is known, 'degrees' can be used by itself.
It's 72 degrees down here and we've had a dry week.
In cold weather, temperatures are often stated as 'degrees below freezing' or 'degrees below zero'.
...when the temperature is fifteen degrees below freezing.
It's amazingly cold: must be twenty degrees below zero.
◊ speed, rates, and ratios
You talk about the speed of something by saying how far it travels in a particular unit of time. To do this, you use a noun such as 'kilometre' or 'mile', followed by 'per', 'a', or 'an', and a noun referring to a length of time.
Wind speeds at the airport were 160 kilometres per hour.
Warships move at about 500 miles per day.
When writing about speeds, rates, or pressures, you can use the symbol ' / ' instead of 'per' between abbreviations for the units of measurement.
...a velocity of 160 km/sec.
'Per', 'a', and 'an' are also used when talking about other rates and ratios.
...a heart rate of 70 beats per minute.
He earns two rupees a day collecting rags and scrap paper.
In Java a quarter of the annual rainfall comes in showers of sixty millimetres an hour.
'Per' can also be used in front of a word that does not refer to a length of time or a unit of measurement.
In Indonesia there are 18,100 people per doctor.
I think we have more paper per employee in this department than in any other.
Note that 'per head' or 'a head' are often used instead of 'per person' or 'a person'.
The average cereal consumption per head per year in the U.S.A. is 900 kg.
You can also use 'to the' when you are talking about rates and ratios.
The exchange rate would soon be $2 to the pound.
Those German Fords got forty-three miles to the gallon.
...about 2 cwt (101 kg) to the acre.
◊ measurements used as modifiers and qualifiers
Expressions indicating size, area, volume, distance, and weight can be used as modifiers in front of a noun.
...a 5 foot 9 inch bed.
...70 foot high mounds of dust.
15 cm x 10 cm posts would be ideal.
...a 2-litre engine.
The 4,700 pound bomb was dropped on a single target.
Note that you can use adjectives like 'long' and 'high', but you do not have to.
If the expression consists simply of a number and a measurement noun, it is often hyphenated.
...a five-pound bag of lentils.
We finished our 500-mile journey at 4.30 p.m. on the 25th September.
...a ten-acre farm near Warwick.
◊ WARNING
The measurement noun is singular, not plural, even though it comes after a number. For example, you do not say 'a ten-miles walk'. You say 'a ten-mile walk'.
However, the plural form is used in athletics, because the measurement is really the name of a race. For example, 'the 100 metres record' means 'the record for the 100 metres (race)'.
...winning the 100 metres breaststroke.
You can use measurement expressions, usually ending in an adjective or 'in' phrase, after a noun.
There were seven main bedrooms, four bathrooms and a sitting-room fifty feet long.
...long thin strips 6mm (quarter inch) wide.
...a giant planet over 30,000 miles in diameter.
You can also indicate the area or weight of something using '-ing' forms such as 'covering', 'measuring', or 'weighing'.
...a largish park covering 40,000 square feet.
...a square area measuring 900 metres on each side.
...an iron bar weighing fifteen pounds.
You can also indicate the area or volume of something using a phrase beginning with 'of'.
...industrial units of less than 15,000 sq ft.
At the beginning of the century Britain ruled an empire of 13 million square miles and 360 million people.
...vessels of 100 litres.
◊ size of something abstract
If you want to indicate how great something abstract such as an area, speed, or increase is, you use 'of'.
There were fires burning over a total area of about 600 square miles.
...speeds of nearly 100 mph.
...an average annual temperature of 20°.
...an increase of 10 per cent.
You can also sometimes use a modifier, for example when talking about percentages or salaries.
...a 71 per cent increase in earnings.
...his £ 25,000-a-year salary.
◊ measurement nouns before 'of'
Measurement nouns are often used in front of 'of' to refer to an amount of something which is a particular length, area, volume, or weight.
...20 yds of nylon.
Americans consume about 1.1 billion pounds of turkey and 81 million gallons of hard liquor at this time.
In addition to units of measurement, people often use 'a half' by itself when referring to half a pint of a drink in a pub, and 'a quarter' when referring to a quarter of a pound of something such as vegetables.
I'll have a half of lager.
A quarter of mushrooms, please.
For information on other ways of referring to amounts, see entries at ↑