Number. Words are said to have number because they indicate whether one or more than one thing or person is doing something. When one
person or thing is involved, the number is singular more than one person or thing is
plural. Both
nounsand
verbs show number by changing form (see
declension and
conjugation), usually by adding or dropping
“5”:
One dog lies in the shade of one tree Many dogs lie in the shade of many trees Nouns must agree with verbs in number—singular
subjectsrequire singular verbs (see
agreement). WRONG One dog lie … many dogs lies.”
Pronouns also should agree with nouns in number Many dogs pant, and I
hear them WRONG Many dogs pant, and I hear it.”
Numbers. Numbers exist in two di erent forms and
styles, from a grammatical point of view. They are spelled-out words (“twenty-one”) or gures (“21”), and they are
cardinal (essentially
nouns like the rst example given) or
ordinal (adjectival forms like “twenty-first” or “21st”).
Ordinals suggest ranking or ordering of things, while cardinals denote quantity or count in itself “Twenty-one is the twenty- rst number A is one letter of twenty- six it is the rst in the
alphabet Ordinals are formed, inmost cases, from cardinals by adding “th”: In the survey the schools ranked fourth, ninth, sixteenth, and thirty- seventh The smaller numbers have special ordinal forms by themselves and in combination
with numbers over twenty First, second, and third prizes go to those holding the fty- rst, one hundred and second, and thirteenth tickets. Those are the ticket holders for prizes one, two, and three Note that compound numbers change only their last element into an ordinal form The one-hundredth and one hundred and rst people to call get $5.” WRONG I served
in the One Hundredth and FirstRegiment.”
Cardinals function like all other nouns except that they are all
plural—except “one”
and zero When numbers are treated as words in themselves, however, they can be singular or plural The mathematician put a one in the rst column of the table and three twos in the next area Here the numbers stand for countable written forms or marks on a page, and therefore they can have
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