How Manyth/Which

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Volcano1985

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How manyth season has passed since she went there?

Which season has passed since she went there?


The answer is 6th season has passed so it is summer now.

Can I ask the question like the sentences above? With how manyth or which?


*A season is a division of the year, marked by changes in weather, ecology, and hours of daylight
 

Raymott

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How manyth season has passed since she went there?

Which season has passed since she went there?


The answer is 6th season has passed so it is summer now.

Can I ask the question like the sentences above? With how manyth or which?


*A season is a division of the year, marked by changes in weather, ecology, and hours of daylight
No you can't say "How manyth?" and there's no reason to.
In fact 'seasons' is rarely used in this way in English. We don't generally measure time by seasons. If someone said, "I haven't been here for six seasons", it would probably mean six years - ie. six social seasons. A "season" in this context is a period of the year when people socialise - probably in summer when the snows have melted and people can go out again and have balls and parties.
"6 seasons", as you mean it, is more likely to be expressed as "18 months" or "a year and a half".
 

Volcano1985

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Ok no season, use year.How would you ask?

A: ____ year has passed since she went there?

B: 5th year.


Is English lack of asking such an question?
 

emsr2d2

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Ok no season, use year.How would you ask?

A: ____ year has passed since she went there?

B: 5th year.


Is English lack of asking such an question?

1 year = 12 months (January to December, normally).

How many years have passed since she went there?
5 years have passed since she went there.
 

Volcano1985

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1 year = 12 months (January to December, normally).

How many years have passed since she went there?
5 years have passed since she went there.

I don't mean how many
 

Raymott

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Ok no season, use year.How would you ask?

A: ____ year has passed since she went there?

B: 5th year.


Is English lack of asking such an question?
Yes, English lacks a word for this.
This question is normally asked as "___ President is Clinton. What is the right word to put here? Can we say whichth?"
Perhaps "whichth" should be a word, but it's not.
 

BobK

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I don't mean how many

Maybe you don't, thinking in your language. But in English we think about the whole period - 'How many years have passed'. It's true that the fifth year has passed (as have the fourth, third, second, and first) but we don't think of it like that.

But the 'word' you want is needed in a question like 'You said Obama was the how manyth President of the USA?' Because the word doesn't exist, we would reword the question.

(When I say 'doesn't exist' I'm ruling out jocular/informal language. People do use it - I have - but with 'mental quotation marks' - we know it's a made-up word and we wouldn't use it in formal contexts.)

b

PS sometimes the ordinal force of the latest sub-period has a special relevance: 'By the end of the fifth month the pregnancy was obvious' - it wasn't obvious after only four months.
 
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