I tried what you suggested and I did have some success but...still more questions...

Code:
begin
        writeln('What number/s would you like to check?');
        read(numcheck);
       
posi:=0;negi:=0;zero:=0
        if  numcheck>0 then writeln('This is a positive number');
        read(posi);
        if  numcheck<0 then writeln('This is a negative number');
        //read(negi);---------------------added to test
        if  numcheck=0 then writeln('This number is Zero');
       // read(zero);---------------------added to test
        end;
end;
Couple of problems that I can't seem to navigate, I've tried several
options.when i have the read statements after each line it forces me
to press a number a certain number of times before asking for the next
number. for example, if i say the first number to check is 5, i thne
have to input a number 5 times before moving on to the next one.
I can eliminate this by commenting out the other read lines as above.
although it stills asks for another number at the end of the statement
before moving on. this is minor though I guess.
I've tried variations of:
Code:
posi:=0;negi:=0;zero:=0
        if  numcheck>0 then writeln('This is a positive number');
        read(posi);posit:=posi;

-----------------
posi:=0;negi:=0;zero:=0
        if  numcheck>0 then writeln('This is a positive number');
        read(posi);posit:=posi+1;
------------------------
also tried it in the writlen at the end of the prog, tried to group
together as well. I think there is just something fundamentally wrong
that I'm not understanding. I'm also now thinking that the read is
not doing as I want. It needs to count the number of posi that are
entered but I get mixed results, on one test it did and on another it
simply output the number that i entered.

Hair pulling time.

as a side note....you guys could bang this out in a couple of minutes...I
have a tendency to make things more complicated for myself. Is this a
difficult task or am I a fking idiot