Adjective of Number

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Adjectives of Number Examples

Adjectives of Number simply indicate how many persons or things are meant or in what order they stand.

Consider the following examples:

  • All the board members were present.
  • The basket contains seven mangoes.
  • Today is the first day of the month.

Adjectives of number are of three kinds:

  1. definite numeral adjectives
  2. indefinite numeral adjectives
  3. distributive numeral adjectives
  1. Definite Numeral Adjectives

    These adjectives tell us the exact number of people or things. They are made up of two types:

    1. Cardinals, which state the number of people or things. For example:

      • There are forty-eight learners in Benson’s class.
    2. Ordinals, which state the order of people or things in a series. For example:

      • Breakfast is the first meal of the day.
  2. Indefinite Numeral Adjectives

    These kinds of adjectives do not denote an exact number. For example:

    • There are no books on this shelf.
  3. Distributive Numeral Adjectives

    These adjectives refer to each other of a number. For example:

      Every word of it is true.

Important Hint!  

Note that Adjectives that state the exact number of the noun are called cardinalsOpens in new window. For example: nine rulers; three pencils. Those which indicate in what order things stand are called ordinalsOpens in new window. For example, the first month; the third round.

All, many, few, several and some are adjectives that do not indicate the exact number. Consider these examples:

  • All men are mortal.
  • Several instructions were given.

The adjectives such as, each, every, either and neither are used when the persons or things are taken one at a time. For example:

  • Every student is expected to use the Ifioque.com website.
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  • References
    • The English Marvel Workbook – 8 Adjectives of Number (By Santhini Govindan, c-23)

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