Countable and Uncountable?

Question

I just looked up a word "discipline." When you use this word, you always use it as the uncountable noun except when it means "an academic field." For example, He was raised with strict discipline. You'll never say, "He was raised with a strict discipline."

There'a another word I am interested in, which is "education." Education can be used as the uncountable noun when you describe in detail what kind of education you have in mind, as in "A sound education should play an important role in shaping children's personalities."

It seems to me that they both become more specific with the help of "adjectives," but they just follow different grammatical rules. Is this something I should become used to through reading? Or are there some rules I am not aware of?

I wish there were some books I could buy which deal with this topic, but so far, I haven't found any.

GPY · Accepted Answer

teacherJapanYou'll never say, "He was raised with a strict discipline."

I would actually read that sentence without noticing an error.

Fivejedjon · Answer

teacherJapan Education can be used as the uncountable noun when you describe in detail what kind of education you have in mind, as in "A sound education should play an important role in shaping children's personalities."

You've used it as a countable noun there.

TeacherJapan · Answer

Ah, I am sorry, as for "A countable noun when you have a specific type of education in mind."

TeacherJapan · Answer

Oh, I see.  So maybe, even if the dictionary doesn't list a usage of "the countable noun," for a certain word, it's likely that people just use it as they like.

Countable and Uncountable?

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