Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2006 / ii / Paper 3 / 16H / b

For each positive integer $n$, the finite ordered interval $[-n,n]\cap \mathbb{Z}$ has a greatest and a least element, and these intervals form a chain of substructures. Their union is $\mathbb{Z}$, which has neither. An inductive first-order theory must be preserved by such unions, as proved above. The theory with both endpoints cannot be axiomatized inductively, even though it has an ordinary first-order axiomatization with existential–universal endpoint sentences.