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Everlastinghope Posted 16 years ago
Vocabulary
Adjective
Hi,
While reading one of Toefl essays,my student noticed the use of the adjective " absolute";the sentence is as follows " the negative aspect to absolute loyalty to one company is that an employee may stay in one job."
At the first glance,the student thought that absolute is a verb,then he asked me if it was an adjective,we would say " to an absolute loyalty".
To me,this is what I should say "to an absolute loyalty",is it correct ?is "an" optional or because we have adjective+noun+the rest of the sentence ?
While reading one of Toefl essays,my student noticed the use of the adjective " absolute";the sentence is as follows " the negative aspect to absolute loyalty to one company is that an employee may stay in one job."
At the first glance,the student thought that absolute is a verb,then he asked me if it was an adjective,we would say " to an absolute loyalty".
To me,this is what I should say "to an absolute loyalty",is it correct ?is "an" optional or because we have adjective+noun+the rest of the sentence ?
Top answer
I think there is no 'an' because 'loyalty' is an uncountable word.
- I think there is no 'an' because 'loyalty' is an uncountable word.
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6 Answers
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I think there is no 'an' because 'loyalty' is an uncountable word.
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Underliner's reply is correct. "Loyalty" is an uncountable noun.
The original sentence uses "absolute" as an adjective.
"To absolve" is a verb, but the connection in meaning to "absolute" seems quite remote.
Perhaps the use of "to absolute" confused the student, making him suspect the form was an infinitive.
Actually, it would be more natural to say "of absolute." (The
The original sentence uses "absolute" as an adjective.
"To absolve" is a verb, but the connection in meaning to "absolute" seems quite remote.
Perhaps the use of "to absolute" confused the student, making him suspect the form was an infinitive.
Actually, it would be more natural to say "of absolute." (The
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Do yo mean that saying "to an absolute loyalty..." is incorrect ?so "to" here doesn't stand for infinitive,am I right ?
How about if I say " I'm looking forward to a nice weather or to nice weather " ? knowing that "weather" is uncountable noun.
How about if I say " I'm looking forward to a nice weather or to nice weather " ? knowing that "weather" is uncountable noun.
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everlastinghopeDo yo mean that saying "to an absolute loyalty..." is incorrect ?so "to" here doesn't stand for infinitive,am I right ?No and yes.
You really have to pick your uncountables to find the ones which work with articles. I can't seem to come up with a rule that will work in all cases.
But "absolute" is absolutely 100% not a verb,
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I need to dig more about the use of the article and uncount nouns.It really confused me.
Many thanks.
Many thanks.
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