Ordinal numbers can be used as adjectives and nouns to define something’s rank or position in a sequence. It can also be used to specify grades or levels.
Names with numbers, including organization names, use ordinals. However, in writing, the names of people often use Roman numerals but are spoken aloud as ordinals.
Use ordinals to refer to the different floors of a building except for the ground floor.
When periods of time are sequential, use ordinals. This refers to centuries and millennia, but also the amount of time passed doing something like school.
Ordinals keep track of birthdays, anniversaries, and other periodic events.
Dates: month + ordinal number
Sequence: ordinal number + noun
Examples
Every July 4th is a national holiday in the United States of America.
Today is March 21st. It is my grandmother’s birthday.
The 2nd game in the payoffs is tonight at 8pm. Let us meet at the bar
This is the second day of temperatures above 50 degrees this winter. The weather is changing very seriously.
Did she sit in the 5th row at the cinema?
How to use ordinal numbers?
You can use ordinal numbers as determiners (not my first choice) or nouns (the first to arrive). Exceptionally, many ordinal numbers are used as adverbs to indicate the order of a series, such as a chronological sequence of events or a list that organizes thoughts.
First, buy a ticket second, go the airport; and third, check in and board the plane.
English also uses ordinals for fractions, especially in speech. Specifically, the denominator (bottom number) is spoken as an ordinal.
Example: ¼ -> one-fourth
Ordinal numbers exercise
Use the following ordinal numbers to make sentences
- first
- second
- third
- fourth
- fifth
- sixth
- seventh
- eighth
- ninth
- tenth
- eleventh
- twelfth
- thirteenth
- twentieth
- twenty-first
- twenty-second
- twenty-third
- twenty-fourth
- thirtieth
Numerals with suffixes
- 1st
- 2nd
- 3rd
- 4th
- 5th
- 6th
- 7th
- 8th
- 9th
- 10th
- 11th
- 12th
- 13th
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