Are numbers adjectives?

Question

e.g. If I say five years, is five functions as an adjective?

Answer 1

What an interesting question.


If you were to write: "Two plus three is five." Numbers in this sentence all work as nouns, and the two verbs are plus and is.

But if you write: "He was five years old." It does function as an adjective--thought I Think there is a bigger name for it. But here, the object is "He." "He" was ---and then you describe how old. Same is if you say: "The shirt was blue." Shirt= noun, blue=adjective.

But numbers aren't adjectives just because they say how much of something there is. It depends on your sentence. Just like you can refer to the ocean as "The deep blue." Then "blue" is the noun, and "deep" is the adjective.

Helpful?

I

Answer 2

Numbers can be used as adjectives, yes, if they're descriptors. In your example, five describes the word years, so it is an adjective.

For those who disagreed below, check out the Grammar Handbook at the Center for Writing Studies, for one, or English-oneline.org for another. Numbers certainly can be adjectives. And as for the terrible example about five terrible years, they're BOTH adjectives.

P.S. I am a professional editor.

Answer 3

When that guy on Sesame Street used to say "I'm going to paint a two," two was a noun. But usually, as in the example you gave, numbers function as adjectives.

Answer 4

Adjectives tell which one, how many, what kind. If the number does that, then yes.

Answer 5

Um, no. The five is not describing the years. e.g. if you said, five TERRIBLE years, than TERRIBLE would be the adjective.

Answer 6

numbers can be a noun or a verb depending on what you are talking about. look at this link it will help you to understand this a little better about numbers.

Answer 7

Yes.

Answer 8

sometimesand sometimes nouns

Answer 9

No. They're nouns.