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6.3. Imperial and Metric Systems

6.3.1. Length and Distance

There are two main systems of measurement in use today, the Imperial and the Metric systems.

The Imperial system uses inches, feet, yards, miles and pounds. The Metric system uses millimetres, centimetres, metres, kilometres and kilogrammes.

Most countries use the Metric system, but the British and Americans use the Imperial system, mainly due to historical reasons (a legacy of the British Empire days).

To make things even more confusing, different spellings are sometimes used, e.g. metre/meter, gramme/gram (fortunately, they are pronounced the same way).

In the Imperial system, the basic distance unit is the inch.

1 inch is about the same length as an adult’s index-fingernail- joint

1 foot is 12 inches and is about the same length as the long side of an A4 sheet of paper

1 yard is 3 feet (or 36 inches)

1 mile is 1760 yards

The word “mile” is related to the Latin word “mille” meaning “a thousand”. The Romans are famous for marching and laying straight roads. The mile distance originated in the Roman measurement “mille passus” or “a thousand paces” (where one pace is two steps).

In the Metric system, the basic distance unit is the millimetre.

10 millimetres is 1 centimetre

100 centimetres is 1 metre

1,000 metres is 1 kilometre

2.5 centimetres is about 1 inch

1 metre is (very approximately) about a yard

1.6 kilometres is about 1 mile

6.3.2. Weight

In the Imperial system, the basic weight unit is the ounce.

1 pound is 16 ounces

In the Metric system, the basic weight unit is the gramme (in British English) or gram (in American English). 

1 kilogramme is a little bit more than 2 pounds

Think about a standard 1kg bag of sugar or flour: it weighs a little bit more than 2 pounds

 

6.3 Unscramble these letters to make words related to distance/length.

  1. tmelimelir
  2. chin
  3. lime
  4. ptes
  5. trimec
  6. rpmielia
  7. lokitreme
  8. remte
  9. dray
  10. tofo
  11. itemerctne

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6.4. Using your best judgement, which of these comparisons are approximately correct.
http://convert.french-property.co.uk/

Question 1

1. An average man is 5 feet 9 inches tall. That’s about 1.55 metres.

Question 2

2. An average man weighs 190 pounds. That’s about 95 kilogrammes.

Question 3

3. You are driving at 80 miles per hour (MPH). That’s about 130 kilometres per hour (KPH).

 

Imperial and Metric wordsearch (use the “Print Screen” key)

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OUNCE 

MILLIMETRE 

INCH 

MEASURE 

GRAMME 

KILOMETRE 

AVERAGE 

KILOGRAMME 

IMPERIAL 

POUND 

MILE 

METRIC 

FOOT 

METRE 

YARD 

CENTIMETRE 

STEP