2.250 as modifiers

Ordinals are often used in front of nouns. They are not usually used as complements after link verbs like 'be'. They are usually preceded by a determiner.

• ...the first day of autumn.
• ...on her twenty-first birthday.
• ...his father's second marriage.

In some idiomatic phrases ordinals are used without determiners.

• The picture seems at first glance chaotic.
• I might. On second thoughts, no.
• Almost all babies --- especially first babies --- have fretful spells.