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186
the first room I looked into was room five,
or
the second page that he read was page twenty-three, etc.
Postmodifying ordinals occur in combinations with certain proper names, mostly those denoting the
members of well-known dynasties:
King Henry VIII - King Henry the Eighth,
Peter I - Peter the First, etc.
Mind the position of the article in such phrases. It is always attached to the numeral.
When used as substitutes numerals combine with various verbs:
I saw five of them. They took twenty.
As head-words modified by other words numerals are combinable with:
1) prepositional phrases:
the first of May, one of the men, two of them, etc.
2) pronouns:
every three days, all seven, each fifth, etc.
3) adjectives:
the best three of them, the last two weeks, etc.
4) particles:
just five days ago, only two, only three books, he is nearly sixty, etc.
Note:
The numeral first may combine with the particle very:
the very first of them.
When they have the function of subject or predicative the numerals are combinable with link verbs,
generally the verb to be:
ten were present,
the first was my father
we are seven,
she is the second.
Occasionally they are combinable with some other link verbs:
two seemed enough,
the third appeared to be wounded.
Syntactic function
§ 233. Though cardinals and ordinals have mainly similar syntactic functions they differ in certain details.
The most characteristic function of both is that of premodifying attribute:
two rooms, the third person, etc.
In this connection it must be remembered that while the ordinals are used as ordinary attributes, cardinals
with the function of an attribute govern the number of the noun they modify: