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Unit 5: The colleague from hell
Zero and first conditionals

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  1. 1 Pop-ups
  2. 2 Hidden talents
  3. 3 Can't buy me love
  4. 4 Travellers' tales
  5. 5 The colleague from hell
  6. 6 Jurassic mystery: unpacking the past
  7. 7 Career changes
  8. 8 Art
  9. 9 Project management
  10. 10 The dog ate my homework!
  11. 11 The diary of a double agent
  12. 12 Fashion forward
  13. 13 Flat pack skyscrapers
  14. 14 Extreme sports
  15. 15 Food fads
  16. 16 Me, my selfie and I
  17. 17 Endangered animals
  18. 18 A nip and a tuck: cosmetic surgery
  19. 19 I'm really sorry...
  20. 20 Telling stories
  21. 21 Fakes and phrasals
  22. 22 Looking to the future
  23. 23 Becoming familiar with things
  24. 24 From rags to riches
  25. 25 Against the odds
  26. 26 Our future on Mars?
  27. 27 Where is it illegal to get a fish drunk?
  28. 28 Dodgy dating
  29. 29 Annoying advice
  30. 30 I'll have been studying English for thirty weeks

Session 1

First, second, third... twenty-ninth... In this session we're looking at the meaning, use and spelling of ordinal numbers. We'll meet a very disorganised man, and listen to 6 Minute Vocabulary!

Sessions in this unit

1234

Session 1 score

0 / 14

  • 0 / 0
    Activity 1
  • 0 / 7
    Activity 2
  • 0 / 7
    Activity 3
  1. Activity 1
  2. Activity 2
  3. Activity 3

Activity 2

First things first...

Eigth, eigthth, eighth?

As you heard in 6 Minute Vocabulary, spelling some ordinal numbers can be tricky. Take another look at our guidelines, and then try our spelling quiz.

Read the text and complete the activity

Spelling

1. We usually form ordinal numbers by adding the suffix -th to cardinal numbers:

  • four - fourth
  • eleven - eleventh
  • thirty-seven - thirty-seventh

2. If we are writing using numbers, which we often do for dates and numbers over 10, we simply add the suffix -th to the number:

  • 4th
  • 11th
  • 37th

3. One, two and three have irregular forms:

  • first, second, third
  • 1st, 2nd, 3rd

4. So do five, eight, nine, and twelve:

  • fifth, eighth, ninth, twelfth
  • 5th, 8th, 9th, 12th

5. Numbers ending in -y have irregular spellings. They drop the -y and replace it with -ieth:

  • twentieth, fortieth, seventieth

6. Large numbers also follow this pattern:

  • the hundredth time
  • the thousandth man
  • every billionth customer

To do

Do you remember all those rules? Prove your spelling power in our quiz.

Spell these first

7 Questions

Can you spell ordinal numbers correctly?

Congratulations you completed the Quiz
Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
x / y

Next

Well done. Now it's time to test how well you know how to use ordinals in dates, and how to use them with articles and possessives. Ready?

Session Vocabulary

  • Ordinals - meaning and use

    Ordinal numbers tell us the position of something in a group. They are used for:

    1. Dates
    It's the twelfth of November

    2. The order of events
    Her fiftieth birthday

    3. Position in space
    Our apartment's on the first floor
    It's the third on the right

    4. Order of quality
    The first prize in the competition

    Spelling and form

    We usually form ordinal numbers by adding -th to cardinal numbers:
    four - fourth
    first, second and third are irregular forms
    fifth, eighth, ninth, twelfth and numbers ending in -y have irregular spellings: twentieth

    We say dates with the and of:
    the eighth of April
    April the eighth 

    But we don't write them like that. We write them as:
    8th April
    April 8th
    8 April

    First, second and third have the irregular suffixes 1st, 2nd and 3rd

View full vocabulary reference

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