THE NUMERAL

THE NUMERAL

The numeral is a part of speech that is characterized by the following features:

a lexico grammatical meaning; according to this, it indicates number, quantity or order

structure; taking it into account, one may distinguish some specific suffixes used for numeral forming :

-teen; -ty; -th; seventeen, thirteen; forty; fifty; the tenth; the eleventh

grammatical invariability, i.e. no modification; some of them are turned into nouns and get -(e)s ending.

Hundreds of books are in the library

their place is between adjective and the noun:

The five fine days have gone

These four dolls are very expensive

in most cases, it is an attribute

The four days were exhausting.

They attend the annual meeting.

The numerals may be classified according to their morphological structure into:

simple numerals from one twelve

derived numerals are formed by means of suffixes; the teen, ty numerals (from thirteen nineteen; twenty ninety)

compound numerals (from twenty-one ninety-nine )

composite numerals ( one hundred twenty one)

Taking into account their meaning and function, the numerals may be classified into:

cardinal numerals (indicate numerical quantity)

ordinal numerals (indicate numerical order)

The cardinal numbers contain whole numbers, fractions and decimal fractions.