The Russian language course in the school curriculum provides for the study of all official and significant parts of speech. To study each of them there is a section of the language, which is given a certain amount of time. One of the voluminous topics is "The numeral". It contains many sections. This is the structure of this part of speech, in which there are quantitative, ordinal, integer, fractional and collective numbers. As well as ways to use words denoting numbers in a sentence, their change by gender and declension by case.
Definition
The study of the section on the numeral begins in the third grade and continues throughout the school course. In a textbook on the Russian language, the definition sounds something like this: it is an independent part of speech, which is formed by an incomplete group of words indicating the number and number of objects, as well as their serial number when counting and answering the questions what? and how many? Initi althe form of the numeral is the nominative case.
Morphological features of the numeral
Like other independent parts of speech, the numeral has variable and constant features. The former include gender, number and case form, while the others include belonging to the category and type in the system of numeral names. It is these morphological features that are the basis for recognizing this part of speech as independent.
Digits of numbers
By value, all numbers are divided into two digits:
- Quantitative. As a rule, words related to this category denote the number and number of objects. Among cardinal numbers, there are three types: whole (five, eight, twenty), fractional (one fifth, three fourths) and collective (two, both, five). It should be noted that some types of cardinal numbers can be used simultaneously, forming mixed numbers. For example: two whole and three fourths, one whole and one second. Collective and fractional numbers cannot be used together.
- Ordinal. Words that belong to this category indicate the serial number of an object or person when counting. For example: fifth, seventh, thirty-third, one hundred and fifty-eighth. As can be seen from the example, such numerals can consist of either one word or several.
Structure of numerals by composition
Depending on how many words the numeral consists of, it can be simple (one, forty), complex (sixty,seventy) and compound (twenty-five, two-thirds). It should be noted that those numerals that are built on the basis of simple ones are complex, for example, five and ten - fifty.
Collective numerals and their attributes
Collective numerals are a special group of words that indicate a set of objects or persons. Quite often, schoolchildren confuse simple numerals with collective ones. To prevent this from happening, they need to learn to distinguish. For example: two fishermen - a simple numeral; two fishermen - collective numeral. This type is formed on the basis of a quantitative numeral by adding the suffix -o- or -ep- and the ending -e or -o. For example: two - two, three - three, four - four, five - five, six - six, seven - seven, eight - eight, nine - nine, ten - ten.
Declination of numbers
As already mentioned, one of the inconstant signs of this part of speech is the change in cases. This topic is quite difficult to master, and many make mistakes when declining numbers in cases, even as adults. And the reason for this is the special forms of declension of some words. Each type of numerals is declined according to certain rules:
- The declension of collective numbers is done in the same way as in the case of plural adjectives.
- When changing the case form of a fractional number, the first part is declined as a simple integer, and the second - as an ordinal plural number.
- Multiple numbers in declensionhave their own characteristics: the number “one” is declined according to the type of the pronoun “this”, and the rest of the numbers should be considered by example. It is also worth noting that when declining compound numbers, all parts of the number are declined.
Examples of Declension Numbers
| Nominative | Genitive | Dative | Accusative | Creative | Prepositional |
| who? what? | whom? what? | who? what? | whom? what? | who? what? | about who? about what? |
| two | two | two | two, two | two | about two |
| one | one | to one | one, one | one | about one thing |
| five hundred and twenty | five hundred and twenty | five hundred and twenty | five hundred and twenty | five hundred and twenty | about five hundred and twenty |
| forty | magpie | magpie | forty | magpie | about forty |
| one thousand four | thousand four | one thousand four | one thousand four | one thousand four | about one thousand four |
| three hundred and three | three hundred and three | three hundred and three | three hundred and three | three hundred and three | about three hundred and three |
| four | four | four | four, four | four | about four |
It is also worth noting that such cardinal numbers as little, a lot, can only be used in the nominative and accusative cases. But the words a little, a lot, a few and how many, when used in oblique cases, acquire endings similar to plural adjectives.
Syntactic compatibility of numerals
Another important topic in the section on numerals is the use of this part of speech. Quite often in everyday life you have to make sentences with collective numbers, and therefore you should know how to pronounce and write them correctly. And in order to avoid mistakes, one should study not only the declension of numerals by cases, but also a topic that reveals what the collective numeral can be combined with. The noun is the main companion of the numeral in terms of syntactic compatibility. And there are a lot of features that every educated person should know.
Using cardinal integers and ordinal numbers
If the numeral in the sentence is used in the nominative and accusative cases, then the noun must be in the genitive case. For example: nine notebooks, twenty roses, five people.
It should also be noted that such numerals as one and a half, four, three and two are combined only with nouns in the singular, and all the rest - in the plural. For example: two notebooks, three roses, fourhuman.
The above examples show syntactic compatibility, which is called control, since the case of a noun depends on the numeral.
Another type of compatibility is agreement, when both one and the other parts of speech are used in the same case. The only exception in this case is the word one, which agrees with the noun in all cases.
When ordinal numbers agree with a noun, they behave in the same way as adjectives. For example: eighth week, tenth day, fourth day. When declining such a numeral by cases, it should be borne in mind that only the ending of the last word changes. For example: one hundred and fifty-fifth paragraph.
Use of collective numbers
Collective numbers are combined with nouns only in the genitive case. An exception is the word both, in which the companion must have only the plural. For example: seven kittens and both friends.
