What number president?

Members help members on grammar, vocab, pronunciation...

Moderator: EC

Post Reply
Fujibei
Member
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Jan 30, 2010 12:34 am
Status: Teacher of English

What number president?

Post by Fujibei »

If you don't know Barack Obama is the 44th president of the U.S.A., how do you ask?
Do the following questions work?

1. What number president is Barack Obama?
2. How many presidents werer there before Barack Obama?
phrasemix
Member
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Jan 16, 2010 6:57 pm
Status: Teacher of English
Location: New York, USA

Re: What number president?

Post by phrasemix »

Hi Fujibei,
That's a good question. (By the way, when someone says "That's a good question" it usually means that the question is difficult to answer.)

I think I would have trouble forming this question. #1 doesn't make a lot of sense unless the person you're asking already knows what you're trying to say. So #2 is a good way to get around the fact that there's no clear grammatical structure for this.
User avatar
Vega
Top Contributor
Top Contributor
Posts: 1532
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:59 pm
Status: Learner of English

Re: What number president?

Post by Vega »

This is what suggested me Google Dictionary. :-)

What the bill, president Barack Obama?
PureGuava
Member
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu May 27, 2010 3:53 pm
Status: Teacher of English

Re: What number president?

Post by PureGuava »

Fujibei wrote:If you don't know Barack Obama is the 44th president of the U.S.A., how do you ask?
Do the following questions work?

1. What number president is Barack Obama?
2. How many presidents werer there before Barack Obama?
"Is Barack (Obama) the 44th president (of the United States)?"

The words in parenthesis are words that you wouldn't necessarily use, since they are assumed/understood.
Post Reply