Monday 30 December 2013

Numberal

Numberal: numberal. A numberal, as opposed to a numeral, is a part of speech encompassing all numbers. This is slightly different from the common (but faulty) practice that assigns numbers to parts of speech according to what function they fulfil in a sentence. For example, while the number 100 will be an adjective in a sentence like "I ate a hundred pies for breakfast," it will be a noun in a sentence like "Johnny, tell me what a hundred minus two hundred is." Numberals were invented to make English slightly more logical and are classified by the Halifax Dictionary as the ninth part of speech. 

1 comment:

  1. Yes, I like "numberal" much better than "attributivecardinal"!

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