Differences between cardinal and ordinal numbers in English

Cardinal and ordinal numbers in English are often confused in terms of usage. In this article, PREP will "reveal" to you the quickest way to distinguish between cardinal and ordinal numbers in English!

I. What are cardinal numbers?

Cardinal numbers refer to numbers used to indicate the quantity or amount of people/objects, or the frequency of an item's occurrence. The most common cardinal numbers from 1 to 10 are written as follows:

II. What are ordinal numbers?

Ordinal numbers refer to numbers used to indicate the position, rank, or order of an item in a series or sequence. The most common ordinal numbers from 1st to 10th are written as follows:

III. Differences between cardinal and ordinal numbers in English

How do cardinal and ordinal numbers differ in English? Let's distinguish between the usage of ordinal and cardinal numbers in English with the table below!

IV. Cardinal and ordinal numbers exercises in English

To better understand the differences between cardinal and ordinal numbers in English, complete the exercise below!

1. Exercise

Exercise 1: Find and correct errors

1. I have third cats.
2. There are fiftieth students in the classroom.
3. She bought fifth kilograms of rice.
4. We live on the five floor of the building.
5. We have been friends for tenth years.
6. The meeting is scheduled for third o'clock.
7. This is the thirteen anniversary of the event.
8. The restaurant is on the three street to the left.
9. Today is the twenty of December.
10. She is the two person to arrive at the party.

Exercise 2: Fill in the blanks with the correct cardinal or ordinal number

1. She finished __________ in the race. (four)
2. I have __________ apples. (three)
3. He is the __________ child in his family. (second)
4. We need __________ volunteers for the event. (six)
5. Today is the __________ of June. (fifteen)

Exercise 3: Match the cardinal numbers in column A with their corresponding ordinal numbers in column B

2. Answer

Exercise 1: 

1. third ➞ three
2. fiftieth ➞ fifty
3. fifth ➞ five
4. five ➞ fifth
5. tenth ➞ ten
6. third ➞ three 
7. thirteen ➞ thirteenth
8. three ➞ third
9. twenty ➞ twentieth
10. two ➞ second 

Exercise 2:

1. fourth
2. three
3. second
4. six
5. fifteenth

Exercise 3:

1 - C

2 - A

3 - B

4 - E

5 - D

PREP hopes this article can help you explain the concepts of cardinal and ordinal numbers as well as how to distinguish them in English. Let’s follow PREP for more useful English knowledge!