My book says that Cardinal Numbers are pivots in the languge
because the other numbers are derived from them and pivot
around them.
Is this simply an artistic statement that when you use 'QUARTUS'
it came from 'QUATTUOR' or is there some grammar meaning
to this like using different cases and tenses?
Also, MILIA or the word 'Thousand' is an adjective. This makes
perfect sense
Example: A thousand men
But why is it a noun in the plural?
Is this an example of it as a noun in the plural: 'There are thousand
of men.' You can say:
The thousands
which means it is a noun whereas you could not say
The A thousand
Thanks.
Cardo as Pivot and MILIA as plural noun
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Cardo as Pivot and MILIA as plural noun
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- calvinist
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We saw thousands of cars. -- 'thousands' is functioning as the direct object of 'saw' and is a noun.
We saw a thousand cars. -- 'cars' is the direct object of 'saw' and 'thousand' is functioning as an adjective modifying 'cars'.
Latin 'mille' and 'milia' work the exact same way.
We saw a thousand cars. -- 'cars' is the direct object of 'saw' and 'thousand' is functioning as an adjective modifying 'cars'.
Latin 'mille' and 'milia' work the exact same way.
Don't worry about it too much, just understand the difference between cardinal and ordinal numbers and know how to recognize them.blutoonwithcarrotandnail wrote:My book says that Cardinal Numbers are pivots in the languge
because the other numbers are derived from them and pivot
around them.
Is this simply an artistic statement that when you use 'QUARTUS'
it came from 'QUATTUOR' or is there some grammar meaning
to this like using different cases and tenses?
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Just out of curiosity is the sentence, "We saw the thousand cars" iscalvinist wrote:We saw thousands of cars. -- 'thousands' is functioning as the direct object of 'saw' and is a noun.
We saw a thousand cars. -- 'cars' is the direct object of 'saw' and 'thousand' is functioning as an adjective modifying 'cars'.
'thousand' a noun or an adj or both or is it ungrammatical to say
it as a noun?"
Thanks.
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- calvinist
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"We saw the thousand cars" thousand is an adjective, compare:
We saw the thousand cars.
We saw the big cars.
We saw the new cars.
We saw the red cars.
We saw the thousand big new red cars.
All are functioning as adjectives modifying 'cars'.
However, notice the following:
We saw the thousands cars. -- grammatically incorrect
We saw the thousand of cars. -- grammatically incorrect
words like 'thousands' 'hundreds', 'millions' function as nouns, but a/the/one thousand or hundred or million function as adjectives.
We saw the thousand cars.
We saw the big cars.
We saw the new cars.
We saw the red cars.
We saw the thousand big new red cars.
All are functioning as adjectives modifying 'cars'.
However, notice the following:
We saw the thousands cars. -- grammatically incorrect
We saw the thousand of cars. -- grammatically incorrect
words like 'thousands' 'hundreds', 'millions' function as nouns, but a/the/one thousand or hundred or million function as adjectives.
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Can i take this as a golden rule that if you put 'a/the/one' in front ofcalvinist wrote:
words like 'thousands' 'hundreds', 'millions' function as nouns, but a/the/one thousand or hundred or million function as adjectives.
thousand it functions as an adjective?
What if you put a/the/one in front of the plural thousands?
Thanks.
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