{"id":5403,"date":"2016-05-17T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T13:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=5403"},"modified":"2016-03-07T22:46:19","modified_gmt":"2016-03-08T03:46:19","slug":"standard-and-imperial-measurements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/standard-and-imperial-measurements\/","title":{"rendered":"Standard and Imperial measurements"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>

Image by Sean MacEntee on Flickr.com licensed under CC BY 2.0.<\/p><\/div>\n

Most of the world uses the metric system for measuring, but the British and Americans have their own systems of measurement (just to make things complicated). These systems are called the \u2018standard\u2019 or \u2018Imperial\u2019 systems.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at the names for measuring things that are used in the United States and Great Britain and see if we can makes sense of these.<\/p>\n

Here are some different things we can measure:
\nheight <\/em>and length<\/em>
\nweight<\/em>
\ntemperature<\/em>
\nland <\/em>and space<\/em>
\nliquids <\/em>and drinks<\/em><\/p>\n

Height and lengths:<\/strong>
\nTo measure height (like how tall you are) or to measure short distances (like how long a board is) you will use the smallest standard measurements: inches <\/strong>and feet<\/strong>. For items or distances that are longer you will need to use yards <\/strong>and miles<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

There are 12 inches in 1 foot. (1 foot = 0.3 meters)
\nThere are 3 feet in 1 yard. (1 yard = 0.9 meters)
\nThere are 1760 yards in 1 mile. (1 mile = 1609 meters)<\/p>\n

These are the most common terms used in measuring height and distances.\u00a0 Here are some examples of how these terms might be used, if someone were to ask me how tall I am, I would say: \u201cI\u2019m 5 foot 9 inches tall.\u201d If someone were to ask me how far I live from work I would say, \u201cI live 7.5 miles from my work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weight:<\/strong>
\nWeight in the Imperial and standard systems are measured in ounces, pounds, <\/strong>and tons<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

There are 16 ounces in 1 pound. (1 pound = 0.45 kilos)
\nThere are 2000 pounds in 1 US ton. (1 ton = 907 kilos)<\/p>\n

In America it is considered rude to ask someone how much they weigh, so it isn\u2019t very often that I would say: \u201cI weigh 140 pounds.\u201d to someone, but people commonly ask how much a baby weighed when s\/he was born, so it is common to hear people say something like \u201cHe weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces at birth.\u201d Large items are usually weighed in tons, for example:\u201cOur car weighs 2 tons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Temperature:<\/strong>
\nYou have probably at least heard of Fahrenheit<\/strong> as a measurement for temperature. Often thermometers have both Fahrenheit and Celsius on them. The unit of measurement for temperature (in either Fahrenheit or Celsius) is the \u2018degree<\/strong>.\u2019<\/p>\n

0 degree Celsius = 32 degrees Fahrenheit<\/p>\n

If you are talking about the weather you might say: \u201cIt was a bitter 20 degrees today.\u201d Remember 20 degrees is cold in the Fahrenheit system.<\/p>\n

Land and space:<\/strong>
\nThe measurement for large areas of land in Britain and America is the acre<\/strong>.
\nFor smaller measurements of space, including indoor spaces, the unit of measurement is the square foot<\/strong>, abbreviated as \u2018sq ft<\/strong>.\u2019<\/p>\n

A square foot is a 1 foot x 1 foot in size.
\nThere are 43560 sq ft in 1 acre. (1 acre = 0.404686 hectare)<\/p>\n

It is common for people to talk about the size of their house in square feet, for example: \u201cOur home is 10,000 sq ft.\u201d People also talk about how big the lot of land they live on is by using the term acre, for example: \u201cWe live on 1.5 acres.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liquids and drinks:<\/strong>
\nLiquid are usually measured differently than items that are solid (weight is usually used to measure solid items). A lot of food items are sold as liquids, which is where you will most commonly see these measurements.<\/p>\n

Just to make things extra tricky, the US and Great Britain use different amounts for measurements with the same names! There are \u2018US pints\u2019 and \u2018Imperial pints\u2019 for example and these two are not the same amount. Here I give the US measurements.<\/p>\n

There are 16 fluid ounces<\/strong> in 1 cup<\/strong>. (1 cup = 0.24 liters)
\nThere are 2 cups in 1 pint<\/strong>. (1 pint = 0.4 liters)
\nThere are 2 pints in 1 quart<\/strong>. (1 quart = 0.94 liters)
\nThere are 4 quarts in 1 gallon<\/strong>. (1 gallon = 3.7 liters)<\/p>\n

As I mentioned before these measurements most commonly come up when talking about food and drinks. For example, you might order \u201ca pint of beer\u201d at the bar or buy \u201ca gallon of milk\u201d at the grocery store.<\/p>\n

I hope this look into the British and American ways of measuring was helpful. If you have any questions please post them below as a comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Most of the world uses the metric system for measuring, but the British and Americans have their own systems of measurement (just to make things complicated). These systems are called the \u2018standard\u2019 or \u2018Imperial\u2019 systems. Let\u2019s take a look at the names for measuring things that are used in the United States and Great Britain…<\/p>\n

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