0
Infinity Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
Countable Or Uncountable?
0 For instance, 02 br
00 "I don't have time to do this." Here, the noun "time" is uncountable. 02 br
00 "I had a great time." In this case, is the noun in the noun phrase "a great time" countable? 02 br
00 IS there any systematic way to explain the concept behind this? According to several grammar books I looked into, uncountable nouns can be preceded by an article "a" when modified or specified. But WHY? 02 br
00 Also, some nouns are more often used with "a" and others are rarely. For instance, "knowledge 02 br
00 " is almost always preceded by "a" when modified, as in "He has a great knowledge of English grammar." But "information" is rarely used with "a" even when modified. For example, it's usually just "valuable information", rather than "a valuable information." Please tell me why! 02 br
02 br
00 Thank you very much. 0-
00 "I don't have time to do this." Here, the noun "time" is uncountable. 02 br
00 "I had a great time." In this case, is the noun in the noun phrase "a great time" countable? 02 br
00 IS there any systematic way to explain the concept behind this? According to several grammar books I looked into, uncountable nouns can be preceded by an article "a" when modified or specified. But WHY? 02 br
00 Also, some nouns are more often used with "a" and others are rarely. For instance, "knowledge 02 br
00 " is almost always preceded by "a" when modified, as in "He has a great knowledge of English grammar." But "information" is rarely used with "a" even when modified. For example, it's usually just "valuable information", rather than "a valuable information." Please tell me why! 02 br
02 br
00 Thank you very much. 0-
Top answer
0 Hello Infinity. 02 br 02 br 00 I'm a mere English learner from Japan, but could you allow me to throw my 2 cents on your question? 02 br 02 br 00 Frankly speaking, I'd say you'd better give up the hope you could get a conclusive answer to the question.
- 0 Hello Infinity.
- 02 br 02 br 00 I'm a mere English learner from Japan, but could you allow me to throw my 2 cents on your question?
- 02 br 02 br 00 Frankly speaking, I'd say you'd better give up the hope you could get a conclusive answer to the question.
- I have raised a similar question before in this forum but I could not get enough persuasive responses ( 05 0 00 ).
- 02 br 02 br 00 As for some nouns (especially substantive nouns), English distinction between countable/uncountable seems mostly reasonable cross-linguistically.
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3 Answers
0
0 Hello Infinity. 02 br
02 br
00 I'm a mere English learner from Japan, but could you allow me to throw my 2 cents on your question? 02 br
02 br
00 Frankly speaking, I'd say you'd better give up the hope you could get a conclusive answer to the question. I have raised a similar question before in this forum but I could not get enough persuasive responses ( 05 0
02 br
00 I'm a mere English learner from Japan, but could you allow me to throw my 2 cents on your question? 02 br
02 br
00 Frankly speaking, I'd say you'd better give up the hope you could get a conclusive answer to the question. I have raised a similar question before in this forum but I could not get enough persuasive responses ( 05 0
00
0 uncountable nouns can be preceded by an article "a" when modified or specified. But WHY? 02 br
02 br
00 Because we want to talk about something very specific and definite . 02 br
02 br
00 "I had a great time" -we are specifying the particular time I spent doing that partcular thing 02 br
02 br
00 "The supermarket is full of groceries " - "I b
02 br
00 Because we want to talk about something very specific and definite . 02 br
02 br
00 "I had a great time" -we are specifying the particular time I spent doing that partcular thing 02 br
02 br
00 "The supermarket is full of groceries " - "I b
00
0 Thank you very much, both of you. 02 br
00 The knowledge and information you provided for me are truly helpful. 0-
00 The knowledge and information you provided for me are truly helpful. 0-
0
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