Morphological Characteristics
Structure
Numerals can be simple, derived, and compound. The cardinal numerals up to ten and the ordinal numerals first and second are simple. The cardinal numerals eleven, twelve and the ordinal numeral third are historically derived. Nowadays, their etymology is forgotten and they are looked upon as simple words.
The numerals from 13 to 19 are derived numerals. They are formed from the corresponding simple numerals three, four, five, etc. by the suffix -teen, e.g.: six - sixteen. Mind the difference in the spelling of the stem in three - thirteen and five -fifteen. Cardinal numerals with the suffix -teen have two stresses: the main stress is on the suffix, the secondary stress is on the stem, e.g.: seventeen, nineteen, etc. If a re^tt-numeral is followed by a noun with a stress on the first syllable, the suffix -teen loses its stress, e.g.: sixteen pencils.
O. Jespersen refers teen-numerals to compound words. His conception does not stand criticism. The tiling is that English compound words always consist of a combination of words, each of which can stand alone as a separate word. The word teen in Modern English does not exist. Teen in Modem English is certainly a suffix, although it goes back to the numeral ten.
Cardinal numerals indicating tens are formed from the corresponding simple numerals by the suffix -ty, e.g.: seven - seventy. Mind the difference in the spelling of the stem in two - twenty, three — thirty, four -forty, and five -fifty. Cardinal numerals with the suffix -ty have one stress on the stem.
Ordinal numerals, with the exception of first, second, and third, are formed by adding the suffix -th to the corresponding simple cardinal numerals, e.g.: four-fourth. Mind the difference in the spelling of the stem in five -fifth, eight - eighth, nine - ninth. When ordinal numerals are formed from cardinal numerals indicating tens, the final -y is changed into -ie before the suffix -th, e.g.: twenty — twentieth.
The numerals from twenty-one to twenty-nine, from thirty-one to thirty-nine, etc. are compound. In Old English, they represented free word combinations. Compound numerals are hyphenated.
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When ordinal numerals are formed from compound numerals, it is the second component that takes the suffix -th: twenty-four -twenty-fourth.
Numerals over 100 are usually regarded as phrasal numerals, e.g.: two hundred and fifty-six. Since it is only words that are classified into parts of speech and the so-called phrasal numerals represent combinations of words, it is better to call them not numerals, but numeral equivalents.
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In numerical combinations including hundreds and thousands, the words denoting tens or units, if there are no tens, are introduced by the conjunction and. Cf.:
265 — two hundred and sixty-five,
3050 — three thousand and fifty,
9671 — nine thousand six hundred and seventy-one,
104 — one hundred and four.
Numerals denoting fractions should be regarded as numeral equivalents, too, because they never consist of one word, hi vulgar fractions, the numerator is expressed by a cardinal numeral, the denominator — by a substantivized ordinal numeral. The numerator and the denominator may be joined by a hyphen, e.g.:
'/s — one/a third,
2 /3 — two thirds, etc.
Somewhat apart stand the vulgar fractions of the kind:
*/2 —one/a half,
% — one/a quarter,
% — three quarters.
In mixed numbers, the numerals denoting fractions are joined to the numerals denoting whole numbers by means of the conjunction and, e.g.:
3!/s — three and one eighth.
The noun following a vulgar fraction is used in the singular. The combination is spoken in the following way:
% mile - half a mile,
2 /3 ton — two thirds of a ton,
% hour - three quarters of an hour.
The noun following a mixed number is used in the plural. The combination is spoken in the following way:
l*/2 kilometres - one and a half kilometres (one kilometre and a half),
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r/3 pounds - one and a third pounds (one pound and a third), 2Vs tons ~ two and a third tons (two tons and a third), In decimal fractions, every number is denoted by a cardinal numeral. We can use zero (American), nought (British), or oh (the least technical) for the number 0. In decimal fractions, the numerals denoting fractions are joined to those denoting whole numbers by means of the word 'point' (mowa). If the whole number is zero, it is often not spoken. Cf.:
0.125 — (zero, nought, oh) point one two five, 12.305 — one two (twelve) point three nought five. The noun following a decimal fraction is used in the singular if the whole number is zero, e.g.:
0.25 ton — (zero, nought, oh) point two five of a ton. If the whole number is not zero, the noun following a decimal fraction is used in the plural, e.g.:
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1.25 tons — one point two five tons.
Morphological Categories
In Old English, numerals had the grammatical category of case. Nowadays, English numerals are invariable.
Syntactic Characteristics
Combinabilitv
The combinability of numerals is rather limited. As a rule, they form combinations with nouns. Numerals usually precede the nouns they modify. Cf.:
Mr. and Mrs. Brown had two daughters and two sons. (L.A. Hill).
...in the second half of the match he nearly scored another goal... (L.A. Hill).
Nouns modified by cardinal numerals in preposition are generally used without any article, e.g.:
/ could see six men with six dogs (D.H. Barber).
But when the situation or the context makes them definite, they are used with the definite article, e.g.:
He was looking at the five boats coming in (J. Aldridge).
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After a time he was aware that he had been seen by one of the three men he had been watching (C. McCullers).
Nouns modified by ordinal numerals in preposition are in most cases preceded by the definite article, e.g.:
February is the second month of the year (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
The noun modified by a prepositive ordinal numeral combines with the indefinite article if the ordinal numeral acquires the meaning 'another' or 'one more', e.g.:
In other words I think I'd like a second opinion (A. Berkeley).
Postposition of numerals is less common. Cardinal numerals occur in postposition with some nouns denoting pages, paragraphs, chapters, parts of books, acts and scenes of plays, lessons in textbooks, apartments and rooms, means of transport, and grammatical terms. Cf.:
This subject is dealt with in Chapter 5 (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
Turn to page 44 (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
Hamlet kills the King in Act 5 (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
Flight BA 726 from Amsterdam has now arrived (BBC London Course).
Nouns modified by cardinal numerals in postposition are always used without any article.
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Postmodifying ordinal numerals occur in combination with certain proper nouns, mostly those denoting the members of well-known dynasties. Postmodifying ordinal numerals are always used with the definite article, e.g.:
King Edward IY (the fourth) (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
The combinability of numerals with other parts of speech is rare. Numerals sometimes combine with:
1) pronouns in preposition, e.g.: every three days,
2) adjectives in preposition, e.g.: the last two weeks,
3) particles in preposition, e.g.: only three books,
4) prepositional combinations in postposition, e.g.: one of
them,
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5) the copular verb be, usually in preposition, e.g.: She's forty-six (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
Syntactic Functions
The most typical syntactic function of cardinal numerals is said to be that of an attribute. Comparing the combinations five books and new books, A.I. Smirnitsky comes to the conclusion that in spite of the seeming identity in function, the component five cannot be looked upon as an attribute.
First, in contrast to attributive adjectives, which reveal this or that property of the headword, cardinal numerals indicate the exact number of persons or things.
Second, attributive words (especially in inflected languages) agree as far as possible with the word they modify, e.g.: xopomax nosoda, where the head noun no^o^a makes the preceding attributive adjective take the form of the nominative case, singular number, and feminine gender.
With cardinal numerals, it is quite different. Here it is the meaning of the numeral, i.e. of the modifying word, that predetermines the form of the head noun. Cf.: one boy, but two boys.
Taking into consideration the specific role played by cardinal numerals in the sentence, A.I. Smirnitsky suggests that they should be qualified not as attributes, but as a specific part of the sentence. However, he does not give it a name.
Ordinal numerals he refers to adjectives because they share the grammatical characteristics of adjectives. Like adjectives, they admit of no number distinctions and have no case forms. The only thing that differentiates them from adjectives is that they have no degrees of comparison. But many adjectives have no degrees of comparison either.
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As to B.S. Khaimovich and B.I. Rogovskaya, they think that ordinal numerals stand closer to cardinal numerals than to adjectives. They put forward the following arguments.
1. Each cardinal numeral has a corresponding ordinal numeral.
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2. Both cardinal and ordinal numerals give a quantitative
characteristic as distinct from adjectives whose qualification is
qualitative.
3. Only numerals have the suffix -th.
4. The words ten - tenth are opposed only grammatically. The
first component ten has a zero inflection, the second - tenth - the
inflection -th. The lexical meaning of the two words is the same.
Following V.G. Admony, many linguists represent the class of numerals as a linguistic field. Cardinal numerals constitute the centre of the field. Ordinal numerals form the periphery of the field because they share the features of two classes: those of numerals and adjectives.
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