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Reegis Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

"a serious disease" or "serious disease"?

I know that disease can be both countable and uncountable. However, it is not always clear to me which one should I use. For example:

Being underweight can be a symptom of serious disease.
Being underweight can be a symptom of a serious disease.

Could you please say which one is correct here? If both, then what is the actual difference in meaning?
  

Top answer

This is how I interpret your sentence. There is a couple of issues associated with the semantics. Many people are genetically thin and may look underweigh.

— Anonymous

  • This is how I interpret your sentence.
  • There is a couple of issues associated with the semantics.
  • Many people are genetically thin and may look underweigh.
  • But we can't say these people have a disease.
  • Then there are those who purposely want to lose weight to look more attractive, so they change their dietary habits.
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3 Answers
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This is how I interpret your sentence. There is a couple of issues associated with the semantics. Many people are genetically thin and may look underweigh. But we can't say these people have a disease. Then there are those who purposely want to lose weight to look more attractive, so they change their dietary habits.
The problem is, when this condition carries on, it can become a seriously a
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Yeah, this is the idea that both sentences try to convey, but still they are slightly different and I would like to know if their meaning is slightly different too. Or maybe you are implying that only a second one is correct?

In general, I just don't see what is the difference between countable and uncountable word disease.

In this
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Could anyone please help here?

I googled "disease countable or uncountable" but it didn't help me much. When it comes to names, the names of illnesses are usually uncountable in English - besides, any one of them can be verified in a dictionary, but the word disease itself is still a mystery for me...
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