6.1. Cardinal and Ordinal numbers, Prefixes and Suffixes

Cardinal numbers are the numbers we use for simple counting, i.e. one, two, three, four,… etc.

Ordinal numbers are the numbers we use when counting in a “list”, i.e. first, second, third, fourth,… etc.  Sometimes, we like to abbreviate these numbers (we use a shorter form because the numbers, in written form, are often quite long and difficult to spell.)

When we put something at the start of a word we call it a prefix e.g. in the words recreate, reinvent, reproduce, the “re-“ prefix means “again”.http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/comprefix07.htm

When we put something at the end of a word we call it a suffix e.g. in the words applicant, servant, participant, the “-ant” suffix means “a person who”.  https://www.learnthat.org/pages/view/suffix.html

So, for example, let’s take this sentence…

“There were over nine hundred earthquakes on the twenty-first of July, in 1885. Earthquake eight hundred and ninety-eight was the strongest, measuring 9.3 on the Richter scale.”

The sentence is quite difficult to read but it can be rewritten as…

“There were over 900 earthquakes on the 21^stJuly 1885. The 898^th earthquake was the strongest, measuring 9.3 on the Richter scale.”

We simply take the last two letters of the words “first, second, third, fourth” and use them as a suffix to give us the readable, written form of the ordinal number such as 1^st. 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th.

Note: word processors often automatically reformat the letters to make them smaller and place them at the top of the line (as above). This is a good written form:  some people also like to underline the suffix.