Bought a detergent

Question

Hi. When you say or write, "He bought a detergent," could either of these be what it means?

1) He bought a specific detergent.
2) He bought a certain kind of detergent.

Also, when someone says "He bought a detergent," could either of these be a possible follow-up question? Thank you for your help in advance.

1) What detergent is that? - asking for the name of the detergent?
2) What kind of detergent is that?

Avangi · Accepted Answer

Anonymous "He bought a detergent,"

Anonymous1) He bought a specific detergent.

Anonymous2) He bought a certain kind of detergent.

"He bought a detergent" would mean "He bought some detergent."
By "specific detergent," I assume you mean a specific brand of detergent.
"A certain kind of detergent" could mean a specific brand, but it could also mean a certain type of detergent.

Your original sentence does not carry either of these meanings ( 1 or 2 ).
The wife would say,
"Don't forget the detergent!'
OR
"Don't forget the Ajax."

To me, your original sentence with the indefinite article suggests that he went shopping with the need for a cleaning product to solve some particular problem, and he chose detergent rather than shampoo or solvent or drain cleaner.

Anonymous1) What detergent is that? - asking for the name of the detergent?

Yes.

Anonymous2) What kind of detergent is that?

That could be asking for the brand name, or it could be inquiring about the chemical makeup of the product.

Anonymous · Answer

Hi. Thank you. Can you tell me more about what you mean by what you said here, especially by the use of the word "some"?

You wrote:

"He bought a detergent" would mean "He bought some detergent."

I think the word "some" can be used in two ways: one can be used to mean quantity or number, as in "some money" and "some questions," and the other to mean a certain thing or person, like "On the way to school, I saw some man handing out free notebooks." Did you mean either of the two when you used the word "some" in your sentence above?

What do you think about this sentence? I think the sentence is correct.

He finally bought a detergent that his friend had been praising about.

Also, are these sentences with the words "food" and "foods" correct? I think this is a lot for a post but any help from you will be appreciated.

Complete the table of menus with the names of foods, and draw a picture of each food. And afterward
tell us what the most popular food is.

Avangi · Answer

In "he bought some detergent," "some" means "a quantity."
He bought an unspecified quantity of detergent. .
If you intended the other meaning which you describe, the tone of voice would indicate disapproval, suggesting that you wish he had bought something else. "Some" would be stressed.

AnonymousHe finally bought a detergent that his friend had been praising about.

You need to remove "about." (. . . . that his friend had been praising.) "Praising about" is not idiomatic.
(We sometimes use ". . . . that his friend had been raving about." It's casual.)
You may also use the definite article: "He finally bought the detergent (or that detergent) that his friend had been praising."

AnonymousComplete the table of menus with the names of foods, and draw a picture of each food. And afterward tell us what the most popular food is.

This is okay.

Bought a detergent

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