ordinal

«ordinal» in Mova's school dictionary: An ordinal number shows the place or position of… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

adjective (ordinal); noun (an ordinal, ordinals)

meaning for a pupil

(maths) An ordinal number shows the place or position of something in order: first, second, third, fourth and so on. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths and English: ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd) vs cardinal numbers (1, 2, 3). Used for places in a race, floors of buildings, positions in a line. Phrases: ordinal number, ordinal position.

examples

• First, second and third are ordinal numbers. tree →
• She came 3rd in the race; "third" is an ordinal. tree →
• The ordinal of five is fifth. tree →
• Our flat is on the fourth floor. tree →
• Write the ordinals 1st to 10th in words. tree →
• He was the 21st person in the queue. tree →

note

Ordinals tell position; cardinals tell how many. Short forms: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th; then -th, but 21st, 22nd, 23rd, while 11th, 12th, 13th use -th. Spelling traps: fifth, eighth, ninth, twelfth. For numbers: if Sam is 4th in a line, 3 people are in front of him.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «ordinal» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.