Numbers & the Number System • Topic 2 of 9

Number Names

A number name is the word form of a numeral - 'forty-three' for 43, 'five hundred six' for 506. Reading and writing number names is really place value spoken aloud, and CTET often disguises a place value question as a naming one. The child has to map the spoken or written words onto the right columns: 'five hundred six' means five hundreds, zero tens, six ones, so the numeral is 506, not 56. The zero in the tens place has no spoken word, which is exactly where children slip, dropping it and writing 56. Reversal is the other common error - hearing 'forty-three' and writing 34 because they record the words in the order they hear the sounds rather than by place. Good teaching links the oral name straight to the place value reading: say 'fifty-three' and immediately show 5 tens and 3 ones, so the word and the column structure are learned together rather than the name being memorised as an isolated label.

✅ Solved examples

1. Write the numeral for 'five hundred six'.
506. Five hundreds, zero tens, six ones. The unspoken zero must be written in the tens place to hold the column - writing 56 loses the hundreds.
2. A child writes 'forty-three' as 34. Name the error.
A reversal error - the child wrote the digits in the order the sounds arrived rather than by place value. Forty-three is 4 tens and 3 ones, so 43.
3. Write the number name for 270.
Two hundred seventy. Two hundreds, seven tens, zero ones - the zero ones contributes no spoken word.
4. Which numeral is 'one thousand two hundred thirty-four'?
1234. One thousand, two hundreds, three tens, four ones, read straight down the place value columns.

✏️ Practice — try these, take hints as needed

1. Write the numeral for 'nine hundred forty'.
Nine hundreds, four tens, zero ones.
Hold the ones place with a zero.
940
2. Write the number name for 408.
Four hundreds, zero tens, eight ones.
The tens word is skipped.
Four hundred eight
3. A pupil writes 'three hundred seven' as 37. What concept is missing?
A whole column was dropped.
Zero does a job here.
Zero as a placeholder (in the tens place)
4. Write the numeral for 'sixty-five'.
Six tens and five ones.
Two digits only.
65

📝 Topic test — 8 questions

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