Abstract

The literature to date indicates that a number of is a frequently-used expression in the English nominal group.
There are various debates over its syntactic function in the nominal group and its internal structure. Namely, the
traditional approach, the transformational approach, and systemic functional approach have different description
and analysis of this expression. This paper aims to give a delicate analysis of its internal functional structure,
from a systemic functional perspective. More specifically, the theoretical basis is the Cardiff Grammar, one
register of systemic functional linguistics. The results show that a number of as a whole is a numerical
expression in the English nominal group. Its internal structure can be investigated in a novel way.

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