(4) 表示时刻用基数词。例如:
We get up at six.
The workers begin work at eight.
表示“几点过几分”,用介词 past, 但须在半小时以内。例如:
ten past ten,
a quarter past nine,
half past twelve
表示“几点差几分”用介词 to, 但分数须在半小时以上。例如:
twenty to nine,
to eight,
a quarter to ten
表示“几点几分”还可直接用基数词。例如:
seven fifteen,
eleven thirty,
nine twenty
2. 序数词的用法
(1)序数词主要用作定语,前面要加定冠词,例如:
The first truck is carrying a foot baskets .
John lives on the fifteenth floor .
(2)序数词有时前面可加不定冠词来表示“再一”,“又一”这样的意思,例如:
We'll have to do it a second time .
Shall I ask him a third time ?
When I sat down ,a fourth man rose to speak .
(3)由几个序数词和基数词在拼写时不对应,很容易写错,应特别注意。它们是: one---first, two---second, three---third, five---fifth, eight---eighth, nine---ninth, twelve---twelfth 。
(4)表示年,月,日时, 年用基数词表示,日用序数词表示。例如:
1949 年十月一 日 读作:October (the) first, nineteen sixty
2004 年九月十 日 读作:September (the) tenth, two thousand and four
(5)表示分数时,分子用基数词表示,分母用序数词表示。分子大于 1 时,分母加 -s 。例如:
three fourths,one second,two fifths
(6)序数词有时用缩写形式:
first→1st second→2nd
third→3rd fourth→4th
thirty-second→32nd