Collins Cobuild English Grammar (55 page)

expressing large numbers

2.221
  When you use
dozen
,
hundred
,
thousand
,
million
, or
billion
to indicate exact numbers, you put
a
or another number in front of them.

…
a hundred
dollars.
…
six hundred and ten
miles.
…
a thousand billion
pounds.
…
two dozen
diapers.

BE CAREFUL

2.222
  When you use
dozen
,
hundred
,
thousand
,
million
, or
billion
they remain singular even when the number in front of them is greater than one.

BE CAREFUL

2.223
  You can use
dozen
,
hundred
,
thousand
,
million
, or
billion
without
of
in a less precise way by putting
several
,
a few
, and
a couple of
in front of them.

…
several hundred
people.
A few thousand
cars have gone.
…life
a couple of hundred
years ago.

approximate quantities

2.224
  When you want to emphasize how large a number is without stating it precisely, you can use
dozens
,
hundreds
,
thousands
,
millions
, and
billions
in the same way as cardinals followed by
of
.

That’s going to take
hundreds of
years.
…
hundreds of
dollars.
We travelled
thousands of
miles across Europe.
…languages spoken by
millions of
people.
We have
dozens of
friends in the community.

You can put
many
in front of these plural forms.

I have travelled
many hundreds of
miles with them.

USAGE NOTE

2.225
  People often use the plural forms when they are exaggerating.

I was meeting
thousands of
people.
Do you have to fill in
hundreds of
forms before you go?

You can also emphasize or exaggerate a large number by using these words in phrases beginning with
by
.

…a book which sells
by the million
.
…people who give injections
by the dozen
.
Videos of the royal wedding
sold by the hundred thousand
.

numbers as labels

2.226
  Cardinal numbers are used to label or identify things.

Room
777
of the Stanley Hotel.
Number
11
Downing Street.

numbers as quantity expressions

2.227
  You can also use cardinal numbers as quantity expressions linked by
of
to a noun phrase referring to a group. You do this when you want to emphasize that you are talking about a part or all of a group.

I saw
four of
these programmes.
Three of
the questions today have been about democracy.
I use plastic kitchen bins. I have
four of
them.
All eight of
my great-grandparents lived in the city.
All four of
us wanted to get away from the Earl’s Court area.
The clerk looked at
the six of
them and said, All of you?
I find it less worrying than
the two of
you are suggesting.

Quantity expressions are explained in paragraphs
2.176
to
2.193
.

number quantity expressions as pronouns

2.228
  Cardinal numbers are used to quantify something without the
of
and the noun phrase, when it is clear what you are referring to.

…a group of painters,
nine
or
ten
in all.
Of the other wives,
two
are dancers and
one
is a singer.
…the taller student of
the two
.
…breakfast for
two
.

numbers after subject pronouns

2.229
  Cardinal numbers are also used after subject pronouns.

In the fall
we two
are going to England.
You four
, come with me.

numbers in compound adjectives

2.230
  Cardinal numbers can be used as part of a
compound adjective
(see paragraphs
2.94
to
2.102
). The cardinal number is used in front of a noun to form a compound adjective that is usually hyphenated

He took out a
five-dollar
bill.
I wrote a
five-page
summary of the situation.

Note that the noun remains singular even when the number is two or more, and that compound adjectives that are formed like this cannot be used after a linking verb. For example, you cannot say
My essay is five-hundred-word
. Instead you would probably say
My essay is five hundred words long
.

numbers with time expressions

2.231
  Cardinal numbers are sometimes used with general time words such as
month
and
week
. You do this when you want to describe something by saying how long it lasts. If the thing is referred to with an uncountable noun, you use the
possessive form
(see paragraphs
1.211
to
1.222
) of the general time word.

She’s already had at least
nine months
’ experience.
On Friday she had been given
two weeks
’ notice.

Sometimes the apostrophe is omitted.

They wanted
three weeks
holiday and
three weeks
pay.

The determiner
a
is usually used when you are talking about a single period of time, although
one
can be used instead when you want to be more formal.

She’s on
a year’s
leave from Hunter College.
He was only given
one week’s
notice.

Cardinal numbers are also used with general time words as modifiers of adjectives.

She was
four months
pregnant.
The rains are
two months
late.
His rent was
three weeks
overdue.

Referring to things in a sequence: ordinal numbers

2.232
  If you want to identify or describe something by saying where it comes in a series or sequence, you use an
ordinal number
.

Quietly they took their seats in the
first
three rows.
Flora’s flat is on the
fourth
floor of this five-storey block.
They stopped at the
first
of the trees.

Note that you can also use
following
,
last
,
next
,
preceding
,
previous
, and
subsequent
like ordinal numbers to say where something comes in a series or sequence.

The
following
morning he checked out of the hotel.
…the
last
rungs of the fire-escape.
…at the
next
general election.
The
preceding
text has been professionally transcribed.
I mentioned this in a
previous
programme.
…the
subsequent
career patterns of those taking degrees.

Following
,
subsequent
,
previous
, and
preceding
are only used to indicate the position of something in a sequence in time or in a piece of writing.
Next
and
last
are used more generally, for example to refer to things in rows or lists.