The numeral in modern english

1.2. Ordinal and cardinal numerals
The definition of the numerals, classification, examples and the functions of numerals in a sentence.
Numerals in English is a part of speech that defines the number or the order of items.
There are simple numerals (1-12), derivative numerals (13-19) and composite numerals (for example: 21, 67, 147).
There are cardinal and ordinal numerals in the English language.
1) Cardinal numerals show the number of certain items. They correspond to the interrogative word “How many?”
2) Ordinal numerals are used to show the order of items. They correspond to the question starting with the word “Which?”
Example:
Such words as “a hundred”, “a thousand” and “a million” are nouns, not numerals. If these words are used in a singular form, they always go with the indefinite article “a” or the numeral “one”.
Let’s give some examples:
These words are not used with the plural ending:
Still, the following words could have the plural ending:
Thus, words “a hundred”, “a thousand” and “a million” could have the plural ending, if they are followed with the “of” preposition and a noun.
3) In a sentence numbers are usually used as attributes.
4) Numerals could have any function in a sentence if they don’t have any defined words.
Cardinal numerals
In formal nontechnical texts, numbers from one to one hundred, round numbers, and any numbers that can be expressed in one or two words are usually spelled out, that is, written out in words.
In less formal texts, as a general rule, numbers from one to ten should be spelled out, and figures can be used for numbers above ten.
Examples of spelling
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10);
eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19);
twenty, thirty-seven, forty-two, fifty-one, sixty-five, seventy, eighty-three, ninety-eight (20, 37, 42, 51, 65, 70, 83, 98);
one hundred eighty-six (186); two hundred (200); three hundred forty (340); four hundred (400); five hundred three (503); eight hundred twelve (812); nine hundred one (901);
one thousand six hundred seventy-nine (1,679); four thousand (4,000); fifteen thousand (15,000); sixty-three thousand four hundred ninety-five (63,495); seven hundred eight thousand thirty-four (708,034);
five million (5,000,000); thirteen million nine hundred sixty-seven thousand one hundred eleven (13,967,111);
six billion three hundred forty-nine million twenty-five thousand six hundred eighty-two (6,349,025,682).
Examples in sentences
She has three brothers.
There are twelve students in my group.
How many feet are there in a mile? – There are 5280 feet in a mile.
Numbers at the beginning of the sentence should be written out in words. If you need to use figures, restructure your sentence.
Fifty-six workers were fired yesterday. – Yesterday 56 workers were fired.
Numerals used in the same function in a sentence are usually written either as words or as figures.
He wrote one hundred thirty essays, fifty-two stories, and seven novels.
He wrote 130 essays, 52 stories, and 7 novels.
Note: Multiples of one hundred
In less formal speech and writing, especially in American usage, four-digit numbers that are multiples of 100 are often named in the following way:
1100 – eleven hundred; 1200 – twelve hundred; 1500 – fifteen hundred; 1600 – sixteen hundred; 2300 – twenty-three hundred; 4400 – forty-four hundred; 5600 – fifty-six hundred.
In British English, such use is more common for round numbers between 1,100 and 1,900.
Note that 1000, 2000, 3000, etc., are pronounced as "one thousand, two thousand, three thousand", etc.; that is, such numbers are generally not expressed in hundreds.
Ordinal numerals
Ordinal numerals that can be expressed in one or two words are usually written as words.
Examples of spelling
first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th);
eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, nineteenth (11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th);
twentieth, thirty-seventh, forty-second, fifty-first, sixty-fifth, seventieth, eighty-third, ninety-eighth (20th, 37th, 42nd, 51st, 65th, 70th, 83rd, 98th);
one hundred eighty-sixth (186th); three hundred fortieth (340th); five hundred third (503rd); eight hundred twelfth (812th);
one thousand six hundred seventy-ninth (1,679th); nine thousand eight hundred fiftieth (9,850th);
two hundredth (200th); three thousandth (3,000th); five millionth (5,000,000th).
Examples in sentences
Generally, ordinal numerals are used as adjectives and stand before nouns. An ordinal numeral is usually preceded by the definite article "the".
The first story was interesting. The second was dull.
The thousandth visitor received a prize.
John Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States.
An ordinal numeral may have the meaning "another, one more", in which case it is preceded by the indefinite article "a".
We sent them two letters, but they didn't answer. We are going to send them a third letter today.
Note the following typical constructions with ordinal and cardinal numerals: the second lesson – Lesson 2 (pronounced "lesson two"); the fifth unit – Unit 5 (pronounced "unit five"); the tenth chapter – Chapter 10 (pronounced "chapter ten")³.
As a rule ordinal numerals are used as attributes.
"No, this is my first dance," she said. (Mansfield)
Almost immediately the band started and her second partner
seemed to spring from the ceiling. (Mansfield)
But they may also be used as subject, as predicative and as object.
Then, advancing obliquely towards us, came a fifth. (Wells)
(SUBJECT)
Sooner or later, someone is going to tell you about that damned river, so I might as well be the first. (Wilson) (predicative; ... she noted a scar on his cheek, another that peeped out 'from under the hair of the forehead, and a third that ran down and disappeared under the starched collar. (London) (object)
In fractional numbers the numerator is a cardinal and the de­nominator is a substantivized ordinal: two-thirds, three-sixths.
Decimal fractions are read in the following way: 7.58 —seven point (decimal) five eight.
English number words include numerals and various words derived from them, as well as a large number of words borrowed from other languages.
In American usage, four-digit numbers are often named using multiples of "hundred" and combined with tens and ones: "eleven hundred three", "twelve hundred twenty-five", "four thousand forty-two", or "ninety-nine hundred ninety-nine." In British usage, this style is common for multiples of 100 between 1,000 and 2,000 (e.g. 1,500 as "fifteen hundred") but not for higher numbers.
Americans may pronounce four-digit numbers with non-zero tens and ones as pairs of two-digit numbers without saying "hundred" and inserting "oh" for zero tens: "twenty-six fifty-nine" or "forty-one oh five". This usage probably evolved from the distinctive usage for years; "nineteen-eighty-one", or from four-digit numbers used in the American telephone numbering system which were originally two letters followed by a number followed by a four-digit number, later by a three-digit number followed by the four-digit number. It is avoided for numbers less than 2500 if the context may mean confusion with time of day: "ten ten" or "twelve oh four".
Intermediate numbers are read differently depending on their use. Their typical naming occurs when the numbers are used for counting. Another way is for when they are used as labels. The second column method is used much more often in American English than British English. The third column is used in British English but rarely in American English (although the use of the second and third columns is not necessarily directly interchangeable between the two regional variants). In other words, British English and American English can seemingly agree, but it depends on a specific situation (in this example, bus numbers).
In American English, many students are taught not to use the word and anywhere in the whole part of a number, so it is not used before the tens and ones. It is instead used as a verbal delimiter when dealing with compound numbers. Thus, instead of "three hundred and seventy-three," "three hundred seventy-three" would be said. Despite this rule, some Americans use the and in reading numbers containing tens and ones as an alternative variant.
Very large numbers
For numbers above a million, three main systems name numbers in English (for the use of prefixes such as kilo- for a thousand, mega- for a million, milli- for a thousandth, etc. see SI units):
the long scale (formerly used in British English but now less so) designates a system of numeric names in which a thousand million is called a milliard, and billion is used for a million million. This system is still used in several other European languages.
the short scale (always used in American English and almost invariably in British English) designates a system of numeric names in which a thousand million is called a billion, and the word milliard is not used.
the Indian numbering system, used widely in South Asia.
Many people have no direct experience of manipulating numbers this large, and many non-American readers may interpret billion as 1012 (even if they are young enough to have been taught otherwise at school); moreover, usage of the "long" billion is standard in some non-English speaking countries. For these reasons, defining the word may be advisable when writing for the public.
The numbers past one trillion in the short scale system, in ascending powers of 1000, are as follows: quadrillion, quintillion, sextillion, septillion, octillion, nonillion, decillion, undecillion, duodecillion, tredecillion, quattuordecillion, quindecillion, sexdecillion, septendecillion, octodecillion, novemdecillion and vigintillion (which is 10 to the 63rd power, or a one followed by 63 zeros). The highest number in this series listed in modern dictionaries is centillion, which is 10 to the 303rd power.[1] The interim powers of one thousand between vigintillion and centillion do not have standardized names, nor do any higher powers, but there are many ad hoc extensions in use. The highest number listed in Robert Munafo's table of such unofficial names[2] is milli-millillion, which was coined as a name for 10 to the 3,000,003rd power.
The googolplex was often cited as the largest named number in English. If a googol is ten to the one hundredth power, then a googolplex is one followed by a googol of zeros (that is, ten to the power of a googol).[3]There is the coinage, of very little use, of ten to the googolplex power, of the word googolplexplex.
The terms arab, kharab, padm and shankh are more commonly found in old books on Indian mathematics.
Here are some approximate composite large numbers in American English:
Often, large numbers are written with (preferably non-breaking) half-spaces or thin spaces separating the thousands (and, sometimes, with normal spaces or apostrophes) instead of commas—to ensure that confusion is not caused in countries where a decimal comma is used. Thus, a million is often written 1 000 000.
In some areas, a point (. or •) may also be used as a thousands separator, but then, the decimal separator must be a comma (,). In English the point (.) is used as the decimal separator, and the comma (,) as the thousands separator.
Special names
When reading numbers in a sequence, such as a telephone or serial number, British people will usually use the terms double followed by the repeated number. Hence 007 is double oh seven. Exceptions are the emergency telephone number 999, which is always nine nine nine and the apocalyptic "Number of the Beast", which is always six six six. In the US, 911 (the US emergency telephone number) is usually read nine one one, while 9/11 (in reference to the September 11, 2001, attacks) is usually read nine eleven.
Ordinal numbers
Zeroth only has a meaning when counting starts with zero, which happens in a mathematical or computer science context. Ordinal numbers predate the invention of zero and positional notation.
Ordinal numbers such as 21st, 33rd, etc., are formed by combining a cardinal ten with an ordinal unit.
Higher ordinals are not often written in words, unless they are round numbers (thousandth, millionth, billionth). They are written with digits and letters as described below. Some rules should be borne in mind.
• The suffixes -th, -st, -nd and -rd are occasionally written superscript above the number itself.
• If the tens digit of a number is 1, then "th" is written after the number. For example: 13th, 19th, 112th, 9,311th.
• If the tens digit is not equal to 1, then the following table could be used:
If the units digit is: 0 1 2 3 4-9
This is written after the number th st nd rd th
• For example: 2nd, 7th, 20th, 23rd, 52nd, 135th, 301st.
These ordinal abbreviations are actually hybrid contractions of a numeral and a word. 1st is "1" + "st" from "first". Similarly, "nd" is used for "second" and "rd" for "third". In the legal field and in some older publications, the ordinal abbreviation for "second" and "third" is simply "d".
• For example: 42d, 33d, 23d.
NB: "D" still often denotes "second" and "third" in the numeric designations of units in the US armed forces, for example, 533d Squadron, and in legal citations for the second and third series of case reporters.
Dates[edit]
See also: Calendar date
There are a number of ways to read years. The following table offers a list of valid pronunciations and alternate pronunciations for any given year of the Gregorian calendar.
Twelve thirty-four would be the norm on both sides of the Atlantic for the year 1234. The years 2000 to 2009 are most often read as two thousand, two thousand (and) one and the like by both British and American speakers. For years after 2009, twenty eleven, twenty fourteen, etc. are more common, even in years earlier than 2009 BC/BCE. Likewise, the years after 1009 (until 1099) are also read in the same manner (e.g. 1015 is either ten fifteen or, rarely, one thousand fifteen). Some Britons read years within the 1000s to 9000s BC/BCE in the American manner, that is, 1234 BC is read as twelve (hundred and) thirty-four BC, while 2400 BC can be read as either two thousand four hundred or twenty four hundred BC.
Fractions and decimals
In spoken English, ordinal numbers also quantify the denominator of a fraction. Thus "fifth" can mean the element between fourth and sixth, or the fraction created by dividing the unit into five pieces. In this usage, the ordinal numbers can be pluralized: one seventh, two sevenths. The sole exception to this rule is division by two. The ordinal term "second" can only refer to location in a series; for fractions English speakers use the term 'half' (plural "halves").
Here are some common English fractions (known linguistically as "partitive numerals"):
Alternatively, and for greater numbers, one may say for 1/2 "one over two", for 5/8 "five over eight", and so on. This "over" form is also widely used in mathematics.
Numbers with a decimal point may be read as a cardinal number, then "and", then another cardinal number followed by an indication of the significance of the second cardinal number (mainly U.S.); or as a cardinal number, followed by "point", and then by the digits of the fractional part. The indication of significance takes the form of the denominator of the fraction indicating division by the smallest power of ten larger than the second cardinal. This is modified when the first cardinal is zero, in which case neither the zero nor the "and" is pronounced, but the zero is optional in the "point" form of the fraction.
Some American and Canadian schools teach students to pronounce decimally written fractions (for example, .5) as though they were longhand fractions (five tenths), such as thirteen and seven tenths for 13.7. This formality is often dropped in common speech and is steadily disappearing in instruction in mathematics and science as well as in international American schools. In the UK, and among most Americans, 13.7 would be read thirteen point seven.