How to as the question

Please read [url=] THIS THREAD[/url].

AnonymousHow to ask the question for the below answer? Mr. X is the twentyfifth Minister?

The only way to assure that answer is to ask 'What ordinal-number minister is Mr. X?'

canadian45The only way to assure that answer is to ask 'What ordinal-number minister is Mr. X?'

Except that NOBODY WOULD EVER SAY THAT!!! Sorry for the shouting. This question gets asked a lot. Please see the thread referred to in Mr. Micawber's post. Or this thread: . Or this one:

I'm not much for conspiracy theories, but the frequence with which we're asked this makes me wonder if there is one, on the part of ESL learners around the world.

What possible difference could it make to one's understanding whether someone says "16" or "16th"? There is no loss of semantic knowledge.

"Oh, gee, I thought you meant Lincoln, because I know he's the 16th president, b

khoff

canadian45The only way to assure that answer is to ask 'What ordinal-number minister is Mr. X?'

Except that NOBODY WOULD EVER SAY THAT!!! That's not the point!
For whatever reason the question is being asked, it is a clear question for which there is a clear an

Except that NOBODY WOULD EVER SAY THAT!!! That's not the point! – Ah, but yes it is: that is the very point. Any unfortunate learner who takes your advice and attempts "What ordinal-number president is Barack Obama?" will be confronted with a stunned look of bewilderment. We try to help learners here communi

English is richer than any other language in terms of vocabulary. However, she lacks some or many words. One of them is the ordinal number question word. You can ask a cardinal number question using HOW MANY: How many children do you have? The answer may be THREE. But how to ask an ordinal number question? In India, where I live, people may ask What's the ordinal number of Dr Manmohan Singh as

O.ABOOTTY In India, where I live, people may ask.... Unfortunately, these usages are unknown to the native speakers of English.

That's interesting. I have always considered Indians native speakers of English – just a different variety, that is all.

Thanks for the back-up. Mr. M.

I think the best we can do in English is "What number president is Barack Obama?" It's not a perfect solution to the problem, because the answer might be "44th" or simply "44." But if you absolutely must ask the question, it's certainly better than "What ordinal-number president is Obama?"

You could also say, "What number president is Barack Oba

khoff But it's much easier to simply ask "what number..." and, if you get the answer "44," be prepared to make the mental leap from "44" to "44th" in your own mind.

That was exactly my point. What bit of knowledge do you lose by hearing "44" instead of "44th"? Or "16" instead of "16th"? None. So why is it so important to hear "44th" or "16th" instead? It's