A clean, dry cloth? Or a piece of clean, dry cloth

Question

I read a sentence in the textbook as below: Electrify the balloons by rubbing them with a clean, dry cloth or on your clothes. Cloth is an unaccountable noun, then why don't we say " a piece of clean, dry cloth". One of my colleagues told me that if there is an adjective before an unaccountable noun, then we can put a or an before it. Is it true? I am very curious. Thanks a lot.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I read a sentence in the textbook as below: Electrify the balloons by rubbing them with a clean, dry cloth ... noun, then we can put a or an before it. Is it true? I am very curious. Thanks a lot.[/nq]
The distinction is between "countable" and "uncountable" nouns.

The rule your colleague suggested might be a good rule of thumb. Of course, the sense changes: "A beige cloth" is not the same thing as "beige cloth."

In any case, with the word "cloth," you could have looked it up in a dictionary which identifies entries as countable or uncountable, as does, for example, the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary at

/
The entry for "cloth" at
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=14378&dict=CALD

shows that word to have both countable and uncountable meanings (indicated with "(C)" and "(U)," respectively.

Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

Usenet · Answer

} I read a sentence in the textbook as below: Electrify the balloons by } rubbing them with a clean, dry cloth or on your clothes. Cloth is an } unaccountable noun, then why don't we say " a piece of clean, dry } cloth". One of my colleagues told me that if there is an adjective } before an unaccountable noun, then we can put a or an before it. Is it } true? I am very curious. Thanks a lot.
Your colleague is pretty much correct(1). The thing about "cloth" is that it can be either a mass noun or a count noun. A cloth is a piece of cloth. It doesn't happen with all mass nound, but it happens regularly with "cloth". Either "a clean, dry cloth" or "a piece of clean, dry cloth" would be correct, but one has the advantage of being shorter. I don't discount the possibility that there is a context in which the longer one might be clearer.
(1) This may be beyond the scope of the question, but it depends on what you call an adjective. If there is a "three" before a noun, some might find it odd to have an "a" before it. But "a three iron" is common enough in some contexts. One could discuss "dry lumber" without admitting the correctness of "a dry lumber". So your colleague is pretty much incorrect, too.

R. J. Valentine

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I read a sentence in the textbook as below: Electrify the balloons by rubbing them with a clean, dry cloth ... unaccountable noun, then we can put a or an before it. Isit true? I am very curious. Thanks a lot.[/nq]
I don't think that the adjectives are relevant. It is just that many nouns in English can be used in a countable (mass) or uncountable manner. The meanings are slightly different but usually clearly related.
When an uncountable noun is used in a countable manner, there is usually some implied measure. A very common example is liquids. Beer can be uncountable e.g. "Beer is nice" but it is also used as countable: "Two beers and a coke please". Some unit, which may be a glass or bottle depending on the context, is implied.

Glass, which I just used as countable, is another example. As uncountable it usually refers to the material, "Windows are made of glass", used as countable it usually means a drinking vessel.

In the case of cloth, when used in a countable manner it usually means a piece of a convenient size to use for wiping or polishing. If you were in an English kitchen, you would be likely to hear: "Please pass me a cloth". In the phrase "dish cloth", it is almost always countable.
In a similar way, nouns which are usually countable are sometimes used in an uncountable way. In some cases, it is hard to say which is more common. It may be better not to consider nouns as being countable or uncountable but as English having two ways of using a noun. Some nouns are almost always used one way, some almost always the other, and some in both ways with various relative frequencies.

Se=E1n O'Leathl=F3bhair

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I read a sentence in the textbook as below: Electrify the balloons by rubbing them with a clean, dry cloth or on your clothes. Cloth is an unaccountable[/nq]
uncountable
[nq:1]noun,[/nq]
It can be, but it isn't always. I clean my glasses with a cloth.
[nq:1]then why don't we say " a piece of clean, dry cloth".[/nq]
We can, also.
[nq:1]One of my colleagues told me that if there is an adjective before an unaccountable noun, then we can put a or an before it. Is it true?[/nq]
I wouldn't say so.
Adrian

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I read a sentence in the textbook as below: Electrify the balloons by rubbing them with a clean, dry cloth ... noun, then we can put a or an before it. Is it true? I am very curious. Thanks a lot.[/nq]
They convey slightly different ideas. "A piece of cloth" suggests something cut from a larger item or piece of cloth. I might cut up an old shirt to make pieces of cloth to use as rags to wipe my hands when doing a dirty job. "A cloth" suggests and item made to serve a purpose. It usually has some work done on it, like stitching a border, whereas "a piece of cloth" is just cut off.
Obviously, "a cloth" will probably have been made from a larger piece of cloth and, in that sense, could strictly be described as "a piece of cloth".
I think the dividing line has something to do with whether any work has been done on the piece of cloth. If yes, it's a cloth; if no, it's a piece of cloth.
Cloths are often identified according to the purpose for which they were made - dish-cloths, face-cloths etc - or by specific names - duster, flannel etc

John Dean
Oxford

A clean, dry cloth? Or a piece of clean, dry cloth

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions