Close menu
3

Unit 3: English In A Minute
Give us a minute and we'll teach you English

Select a unit

  1. 1English In A Minute
  2. 2English In A Minute
  3. 3English In A Minute

Session 35

Welcome to English In A Minute. Give us a minute and we'll give you a hot tip about English vocabulary... there's so much to learn! And all taught by your favourite BBC Learning English staff!

Sessions in this unit

123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100

Session 35 score

0 / 3

  • 0 / 3
    Activity 1
  1. Activity 1

Activity 1

Common uses of 'figure'

Learn common uses of the noun 'figure'.

Watch the video and complete the activity

Show transcriptHide transcript

Sam

When it's a noun, figure is often related to numbers, shapes or people. Let's take a closer look together.

A figure is a number.

Can you check these figures for me, please?

If something is 'in single figures', it's between 1-9, and if it's 'in double figures', it's between 10-99.

It was a great basketball game! Five players scored in double figures.

A figure can be a picture or drawing in a book, often with a number.

Please turn to page 32 in your textbooks and have a look at figure 3.

A figure is also the shape of a person.

It was dark, so I couldn't see exactly who the two figures were.

And, finally, a figure can be an important or well-known person.

Is there a public figure who you admire?

Figure

As a noun, figure is often related to numbers, shapes or people. Here are some meanings it can have:

1. a number. If something is 'in single figures', it's between 1-9, and if it's 'in double figures', it's between 10-99.

  • Can you check these figures for me, please?
  • It was a great basketball game! Five players scored in double figures.


2. a picture or drawing in a book, often with a number

  • Please turn to page 32 in your textbooks and have a look at figure 3.
  • Have a look at figure 8 for details.


3. the shape of a person

  • It was dark, so I couldn't see exactly who the two figures were.
  • A dreamed that a mysterious, angelic figure entered my room.


4. an important or well-known person

  • Is there a public figure who you admire?
  • She is an important literary figure.

 

 ____________________________________________________________________________________________

To do

Try our quiz to see how well you've learned today's language. 

English In A Minute Quiz

3 Questions

Test your understanding of this lesson with our quiz!

Congratulations you completed the Quiz
Excellent!Great job!Bad luck!You scored:
x / y

Downloads 

You can download a PDF document for this episode here.

More

We hope you enjoyed English in a Minute. You can find more episodes here. 

Download centre

Latest course content