Cardinal adjectives: Confusion with other pos values

Confusion can occur between cardinal adjective, indefinite determiner, indefinite pronoun and noun.

Distinction between cardinal used as adjective or determiner:

Test:

Given NP a noun phrase, Det a determiner, N a noun, X of type cardinal: If NP (Det + X/type=card + N), then X/pos=a; otherwise, if NP (X/type=card + N), then X/pos=d.

pos=a & type=card pos=d & type=card

Description Example Description Example

cardinal used as
adjective les deux /pos=a &
type=card hommes sont
venus cardinal used as
determiner deux /pos=d & type=card
hommes sont venus

Distinction between cardinal used as adjective or pronoun:

Test:

Given NP a noun phrase, Det a determiner, N a noun and X of type cardinal: If NP (Det + X/type=card + N), then X/pos=a; otherwise, if X/type=card, then X/pos=p.

pos=a & type=card pos=p & type=card

Description Example Description Example

cardinal used as
adjective les deux /pos=a &
type=card hommes sont
venus cardinal/Det+cardinal
used as pronoun deux /pos=p & type=card
sont venus

Distinction between cardinal adjective and indefinite pronoun:

Test:

Given NP a noun phrase, Det a determiner: If NP (Det + number>1), then number/pos=a; otherwise, if NP (Det + number=1) then number/pos=p.

pos=a & type=card pos=p & type=indf

Description Example Description Example

cardinal pronoun Les deux /pos=a &
type=card sont venus indefinite pronoun L'un /pos=p & type=indf
est venu

Distinction between cardinal adjective and common noun:

Test:

If X has its own conceptual interpretation, if X is semantically autonomous, then X is a noun.

pos=a & type=card pos=n

Description Example Description Example

cardinal adjective Les sept /pos=a &
type=card nains noun Le sept /pos=n est mon
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