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Fiaz Idris
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 3:29 pm
Post subject: How do you ask this? |
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Answer: I have two crayons
and the question might be
How many crayons do you have?
------
Answer: He is the 41st president of the united states.
What is the easiest way to ask the question.
A sample might be.
How manieth president of the US is Mr. X?
Certainly the above question is wrong. So what might be
the correct question in the simplest form without any
complications.
Thank you.
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Don Phillipson
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 6:11 pm
Post subject: Re: How do you ask this? |
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"Fiaz Idris" <ifiaz@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:93c1947c.0410110129.143cd4c8@posting.google.com...
| Quote: | Answer: He is the 41st president of the united states.
What is the easiest way to ask the question.
A sample might be.
How manieth president of the US is Mr. X?
Certainly the above question is wrong. So what might be
the correct question in the simplest form without any
complications.
|
It is well-known that the English language is not
"symmetrical." It displays some uniformities
(e.g. between regular verbs) but uniformity is not
a rule. Thus we observe:
(a) English has an interrogative pronoun for
identity, Who, as in Who is the best XYZ? but
(b) English has no interrogative pronoun for
order in priority as in FI's example.
The question can be put only in some other way,
e.g. How many American presidents were there
before X?
But we understand the coinage "how manyeth."
This reflects the capacity of English to change
in response to need and valuable suggestion,
cf. its ability to accept new words e.g. feedback.
But the domain of numbering is known to be
special, cf. diffference between cardinal and
ordinal numbers and the special status of zero.
In combination with available alternatives, this
may be why "how manyeth" has not entered
the language.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada) |
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dimestore
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2004 11:15 am
Post subject: Re: How do you ask this? |
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| Quote: | A sample might be.
How manieth president of the US is Mr. X?
Certainly the above question is wrong. So what might be
the correct question in the simplest form without any
complications.
|
Which president was X?
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Carmen L. Abruzzi
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2004 11:37 am
Post subject: Re: How do you ask this? |
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Fiaz Idris wrote:
| Quote: | Answer: I have two crayons
and the question might be
How many crayons do you have?
------
Answer: He is the 41st president of the united states.
What is the easiest way to ask the question.
A sample might be.
How manieth president of the US is Mr. X?
Certainly the above question is wrong.
|
Maybe wrong, but it would be easily understood. Not
suitable for any formal usage, though. Sounds like
something a child might produce.
So what might be
| Quote: | the correct question in the simplest form without any
complications.
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What number president is X?
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Matti Lamprhey
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2004 3:44 pm
Post subject: Re: How do you ask this? |
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"Fiaz Idris" <ifiaz@hotmail.com> wrote...
| Quote: |
Answer: He is the 41st president of the united states.
What is the easiest way to ask the question.
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Where does [] come in the sequence of American presidents?
Matti |
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Tony Cooper
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2004 7:07 pm
Post subject: Re: How do you ask this? |
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On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 10:44:24 +0100, "Matti Lamprhey"
<matti-nospam@totally-official.com> wrote:
| Quote: | "Fiaz Idris" <ifiaz@hotmail.com> wrote...
Answer: He is the 41st president of the united states.
What is the easiest way to ask the question.
Where does [] come in the sequence of American presidents?
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In the case of Bill Clinton, in the ante room of the Oval Office. |
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meirman
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2004 2:35 am
Post subject: Re: How do you ask this? |
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In alt.english.usage on Tue, 12 Oct 2004 05:15:18 GMT "dimestore"
<dimefudge@sbcglobal.net> posted:
| Quote: | A sample might be.
How manieth president of the US is Mr. X?
Certainly the above question is wrong. So what might be
the correct question in the simplest form without any
complications.
Which president was X?
|
The dumb one.
s/ meirman If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis, 7 years
Chicago, 6 years
Brooklyn NY 12 years
now in Baltimore 20 years |
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meirman
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2004 2:39 am
Post subject: Re: How do you ask this? |
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In alt.english.usage on Tue, 12 Oct 2004 05:15:18 GMT "dimestore"
<dimefudge@sbcglobal.net> posted:
| Quote: | A sample might be.
How manieth president of the US is Mr. X?
Certainly the above question is wrong. So what might be
the correct question in the simplest form without any
complications.
Which president was X?
|
Ooops. I mean the one who was out of the loop.
s/ meirman If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis, 7 years
Chicago, 6 years
Brooklyn NY 12 years
now in Baltimore 20 years |
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