Download - VISL

to distinguish such forms from ordinal numbers, an appeal to meaning alone
will allow speakers of English and Danish to make the distinction easily.
Fractions are made up of two numbers, one above the other (e.g., 1/2, 3/4): the
top number (e.g. 1, 3) is called the NUMERATOR, while the bottom number
(e.g. 2, 4) is the DENOMINATOR. Note that when reading a fraction aloud,
one reads the numerator as a cardinal number and the denominator as an
ordinal (the main exception is ½, which is read in English as “one half” or “a
half” (rather than as “one second”) and in Danish as “en halv” (rather than as
“en/et anden/andet”):
• ENGLISH: two thirds, three fourths, seven tenths, ninety-nine one
hundredths
• DANISH: en tredjedel, tre fjerdedele, syv tiendedele, ni og halvfems
hundrededele
As the above lists illustrate, English treats fractions whose numerator is larger
than one as plural forms, adding the suffix –s to the fraction (contrast e.g. one
third, one fiftieth), while Danish adds the noun del/dele to the fraction.
Potential pitfalls: The fact that English first and Danish første belong to the
ordinal numbers gives rise to the following question: What about English last
and Danish sidste? These words are best viewed as adjectives rather than as
numerals.
12. References
Dienhart, John (with Carl Bache, Mike Davenport, and Fritz Larsen). An
Introduction to English Sentence Analysis. Gyldendal: Copenhagen.
3 rd edition 1999. (1 st edition 1991).
Bick, Eckhard. Grammy i Klostermølleskoven – “VISL-lite:
Tværsprogligsætningsanalyse for begyndere. mnemo. 2002.
Palmer, Frank. Grammar. Penguin Books: Harmondsworth, Middlesex,
England. 2 nd edition 1984. (1 st edition 1971).
page 57
John M. Dienhart