Toronto is full of places to visit, eat, shop, and enjoy. In the downtown area are shopping centres, including the Eaton Centre, St. Lawrence Market, and the Distillery District. There are several theatres, many which are run by the Mirvish family. The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, opened in June 2006, is home to the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet of Canada. Across the harbor are the Toronto Islands, the best known of which is Centre Island.
Toronto has many sports teams. Some of them belong to the most commonly-followed leagues in North America. They include the Toronto Maple Leafs in ice hockey (NHL) and the Toronto Raptors in basketball (NBA), both of which play in the Air Canada Centre. The nearby Rogers Centre is where the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team plays. BMO Field in Exhibition Place is home to the Toronto Argonauts in Canadian football and Toronto F.C., a soccer club.
Toronto is a very multicultural city. Different people from around the world have moved to Toronto to live since the 20th century. There is a Chinatown, Little Italy, Little Tokyo, Greektown, Little Portugal, and other places where different cultures are kept alive. These people hold festivals where they share their culture with others. Among the most popular is the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), which happens every year in August.
Like many cities around the world, Toronto has an airport, Toronto Pearson International Airport. There are flights to many places in Canada and the rest of the world. The airport is just northwest of the city centre. Since 2015, there has been a train service, the Union Pearson Express. It goes from the airport to Downtown in less than half an hour.
Toronto's main public transportation system is operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). The main part of its public transport network is the Toronto subway system. That system includes three heavy-rail rapid transit lines spanning the city, including the U-shaped Line 1 and east–west Line 2. A light metro line also exists, exclusively serving the eastern district of Scarborough. A discussion is underway to replace it with a heavy-rail line. The TTC also operates an extensive network of buses and streetcars. The streetcars serve the downtown core. The buses provide service to many parts of the city not served by the sparse subway network.
The Government of Ontario also operates a commuter rail and bus transit system called GO Transit in the Greater Toronto Area. GO Transit carries over 250,000 passengers every weekday (2013) and 57 million annually. Most of them travel to or from Union Station. GO Transit is implementing RER (Regional Express Rail) into its system.
Housing in Toronto was ranked as 10th-least affordable in the world. The study compared Toronto with ninety other metropolitan areas in different countries. Hong Kong came in as the least affordable place to live in.
Names of numbers in English
Here are some words for small numbers. Words in bold are irregular.
When writing other numbers between 21 and 99, you must use a hyphen (-).
The number 100 is written as "one hundred", but sometimes people say "a hundred".
The way numbers are written and spoken differs between American English and other forms of English, such as British English and Australian English, as follows.
To write a whole number from 100 to 999 in American English:
In standard, written, American English, the word "and" is "not" in the word-name of any whole number even though many speakers insert it.
Examples:
To write a whole number from 100 to 999 in British and Commonwealth English:
In standard, written, British English (and the English spoken in many other places), the word "and" "is" in the word-name of many whole numbers.
Examples:
United States dollar
The United States dollar (or American dollar) is the official currency (money) of the United States of America. It is also used in some . It is the standard currency for international markets selling goods such as gold and oil (petrol). When writing, the symbol for the American dollar is the dollar sign ($). Dollars can also be known as USD (standing for 'U.S. dollar').
The American one dollar bill has a picture of George Washington. There are currently paper bills (currency) of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollars.
All U.S. dollar currency has been the same size, shape and general design since 1928. This is unlike some countries where bank notes with different values have different sizes.
The U.S. also has dollar coins. Some are silver colored and some are gold colored. Vending machines often give dollar coins as change, since it is easier for the machines to give out coins than paper money. Some of the more advanced vending machines give out paper money as change. Paper dollars are much more common than dollar coins.
The US dollar in subdivided into cents, and 100 cents equals 1 US dollar. One cent can be written as either $0.01 or 1¢. The cent or "penny" (not to be confused with the English penny sterling) is the least worth coin used in the U.S.. There are several different coins with different cent values of different materials and sizes. There is the penny (1¢ or $0.01), nickel (5¢ or $0.05), dime (10¢ or $0.10), quarter (25¢ or $0.25), and the much rarer half-dollar (50¢ or $0.50). All coins and paper bills have the faces of famous Americans on the front side.
The paper "dollar bill" is actually called a "Federal Reserve Note". Federal Reserve notes are legal tender currency notes. The twelve Federal Reserve Banks issue them into circulation pursuant to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. A commercial bank belonging to the Federal Reserve System can obtain Federal Reserve notes from the Federal Reserve Bank in its district whenever it wishes by paying for them in full, dollar for dollar, from its account with Federal Reserve Bank.
Federal Reserve Banks get the notes from the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP). It pays the BEP for the cost of producing the notes.
Congress has specified that a Federal Reserve Bank must hold collateral equal in value to the Federal Reserve notes that the Bank receives. This collateral is chiefly gold certificates and United States securities. This provides backing for the note issue.
Federal Reserve notes are not redeemable in gold, silver or any other commodity, and receive no backing by anything. This has been the case since 1933. The notes have no value for themselves, but for what they will buy.
The Coinage Act of 1965 titled "Legal tender" states: "United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues".
This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is no Federal statute saying a person or organization "must" accept currency or coins as payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash. But there might be a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.
The public typically obtains its cash from banks by withdrawing cash from automated teller machines (ATMs) or by cashing checks. The amount of cash that the public holds varies seasonally, by the day of the month, and even by the day of the week. For example, people demand a large amount of cash for shopping and vacations during the year-end holiday season. Also, people typically withdraw cash at ATMs over the weekend, so there is more cash in circulation on Monday than on Friday.