How do you convert the sentence "George Washington was the first president." to a question?

Question

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How should I phrase a question that must be answered with an ordinal number (e.g., the third prime)?

How do you convert the sentence:

George Washington was the first president.

into a question, preferably one in the form:

****Missing Phrase**** president is George Washington?

If no equivalent sentence that is not awkward sounding exists, why is there no English equivalent for the word how-many-th?

Yes, I saw that question. However, I provided a specific format. This was not answered in that post. Thanks for pointing it out anyway. — Helix Quar, Aug 05 '12 at 17:54
@James The answer is that there is no common and grammatical equivalent in English. "How many'th" or "which positioned" do not really work. It's best to simply structure the question differently. — coleopterist, Aug 05 '12 at 17:57
Wow. I can't believe the English Language doesn't have a word for that. — Helix Quar, Aug 05 '12 at 18:08

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 05 '12 at 17:58

2

What was George Washington's place in the sequence [order?] of U.S. presidents.

answered Aug 05 '12 at 17:58

bib

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 05 '12 at 18:03

-1

The obvious answer to a question phrased like that,

[MissingPhrase] president was George Washington?

is "What number president was George Washington?"

A: George Washington was the first president. George Washington was president number one.

answered Aug 05 '12 at 18:03

Andrew Leach

2 Answers2