2010

OK 2010 is here. And, the new year has begun. I have a question. How do we pronounce 2010? Is it “two thousand and ten” or “two thousand ten” or “twenty ten”?

Then some people might pronounce “two zero one zero”, “two oh ten”, or just “ten”.

According to NAGG (National Association of Good Grammar) the correct way of saying is “twenty ten”. From the beginning, centuries have always been pronounced by their cardinal number. A cardinal number is known as a counting number. We always said “seventeen seventy six”, “nineteen forty seven”, “nineteen eighty three”, etc.

Then came Y2K. People started to say “year two thousand”, “year two thousand one” and on and on.

At least, we should start saying years in the proper way beginning this year, that is “twenty ten”.

Again, this is a colloquial way of addressing a year. More formal way of addressing a year is something like “one thousand, nine hundred and ninety eight”. Please check your degree certificate from your university/college.

PS: Even though unrelated to this post, I would like to add one more item. There are 3 types of numbers:

Cardinal Numbers - These numbers tell “how many”. They are counting numbers because they show quantity. For example: 4 children, 6 cats.

Ordinal Number - These numbers tell the order of things in a set. Ordinal numbers do not show quantity. They only show rank or position. For example: 2nd best, 4th car.

Nominal Number – These numbers name something. They are used only to identify something. For example: Cell phone number is 555-555-1212, Zip Code 20500.