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SpoonfedBaby Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

a miso soup

Dear tutors,

( A ) She made me a miso soup.
( B ) She made me miso soup.
Which one of the above sentences is right?

Cambridge dictionary soup noun [C or U]
a usually hot, liquid food made from vegetables, meat or fish

If I want to replace “miso soup” with “soup with seaweed in it,” what would be my new sentence? I don’t know if I should put the indefinite article because soup is an uncountable noun when we think about the liquid but is countable when we think about a type of soup. Please, correct this sentence for me “She made me soup with seaweed in it.”

Thank you very much,
SFB
  

Top answer

Whether it is "miso" or "with seaweed", either construction is possible. ). If you don't use "a", you are not asking your reader to think of it that way.

— CalifJim

  • Whether it is "miso" or "with seaweed", either construction is possible.
  • ).
  • If you don't use "a", you are not asking your reader to think of it that way.
  • You are saying just that some quantity of soup was made and that it had the general character of being miso soup (or soup with seaweed).
  • CJ
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6 Answers
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Whether it is "miso" or "with seaweed", either construction is possible. If you use "a", you mean one of several particular recipes was used to make the soup (although you're not specifying which recipe, of course!). If you don't use "a", you are not asking your reader to think of it that way. You are saying just that some quantity of soup was made and that it had the general character of
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Hello CJ

I too am still not fully confident about the usage of <'a/an' + a mass noun>. How about if 'soup' is not modified by any adjective but specified by a <that> clause? Based on your explanation, I guess we have to say "I'd like to have a soup that contains miso and seaweed" rather than "I'd like to have soup
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Regarding "I guess we have to say ...": No. You don't have to say "a soup". You can say "a soup" or just "soup". "a soup" is the marked form. It says "that kind of soup that ...". The unmarked "soup" says "an amount of soup (that) ...".
"a" implies choice. "a" implies "which?"

-- Chef, what would you like us to put on the menu for tonig
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Hello CJ

Thanks for the kind reply. I've repeatedly thought over it but I'm afraid I still haven’t got to complete understanding of the difference between "a soup that …" and "soup that …".

-- Chef, what would you like us to put on the menu for tonight? We are trying to choose a soup
-- Let's make a soup that contains seaweed and a soup that contain
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I had never thought of how I would parse it, but I think you have a good solution with [a [soup that ...]].
Emotion: smile
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