§ 1. Numerals include two classes of words — cardinal and or- dinal numerals.

Cardinal numerals indicate number: one, two, three, four, ten, twelve, eighteen, twenty, thirty-three, seventy-five, ninety-one, a hundred, one hundred and forty-six, two hundred and twenty- eight, a thousand, three thousand and fifty-two, seven thousand three hundred and seventeen, etc.

Note 1. The numerals hundred, thousand and million are always preceded by the indefinite article a or the numeral one. The latter is generally used when these numerals are followed by some other numerals, e.g. a hundred but one hundred and twenty three; a thousand but one thousand seven hundred and thirty.

Note 2, Care should be taken to remember the following patterns:

a) five hundred books (= 500 books), b) hundreds of books,

three thousand cars (= 3,000 cars), thousands of cars,

two million workers (= 2,000,000 workers), millions of workers.

In the examples under (a) the exact number of persons or things is given; in the examples under (b) hundred, thousand and million do not indicate any exact number but only a great multitude of persons or things.

Ordinal numerals indicate order: first, second, third, fourth, tenth, twelfth, eighteenth, twenty-fifth, forty-seventh, a hun dredth, two hundred and thirty-ninth, etc.

(For the use of articles with ordinal numerals see "Articles", § ll.)

Note 1. Dates are read in the following way:

1st September, 1944 — the first of September (September the first), nineteen {hundred and) forty four, 5th January, 1807 — the fifth of January {January the fifth), eighteen hundred and seven.

Note 2. Common fractions are read in the following way: — 2/3= two thirds;

3/8 = three eights; 5/12 = five twelfths.

Decimal fractions are read as 3.5 = three point five 4.76 = four point seventy six, 8.03 — eight point naught three,

§ 2. Both cardinal and ordinal numerals can have certain func- tions of nouns (a) and of adjectives (b) in the sentence.

e.g. a) Three of the schoolboys fell ill with scarlet fever. There were four of us there. "Will you have another cup of tea?" "No, thank you. I've

had two." There were three questions in the test. The second was

particularly difficult. Jane was the first to wake up. "Which exercise would you like to do first?" "I think I'd

begin with the third." b) We had three visitors that day. The first visitor to arrive

was my aunt Milly.

ADVERBS

§ 1. Adverbs are a miscellaneous class of words which is not easy to define. Some adverbs resemble pronouns, e.g. here, there, then, where. Others have a lot in common with prepositions, e.g. about, since, in, before, over. Still others are derived, from adjec- tives, e.g. seriously, slowly, remarkably.

Adverbs have diverse lexical meanings and differ from each other in their structure and role in the sentence.

Structurally, some adverbs are single words (e.g. fast, well, clearly, somehow, nowhere, sideways, southward(s), etc.), others are phrases (e.g. at last, all along, at first, in front, from above, since then, till later, for once, the day after tomorrow, all of a sudden, as a result, etc.).

Most adverbs serve to modify verbs, adjectives and other ad- verbs in the sentence.

e.g. He spoke resolutely.

They are coming here tomorrow. He has known it all along. My mother looked somewhat pale. She knew him very well.

Some adverbs modify whole sentences expressing an evaluation of what is said in the sentence with respect to either the form of communication or to its content.

e.g. Briefly, there is nothing more I can do about it. Frankly, I am tired.

Still other adverbs have a connective function between what is being said and what was said before.

e.g. I've talked to him several times about the matter, and yet he

does nothing about it. He, however, hasn't arrived yet.

The girl seems very intelligent, though. She wouldn't come anyway.