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Manue Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

Exclamations with What, What a, and How

0I am utterly confused with the rule associated with the use of 01b00what02b00, 01i01b00what a02b02i00 and01b00 01i00how02i02b00 in exclamations.02br
02br
00According to a Collins Grammar book, the rule is as follow:02br
02br
00- 01b00How + adjective/adverb02b00 e.g. 01i01font01b00How beautiful!02b02font02i00 02br
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00- 01b00What a + singular countable noun02b00 e.g. 01font01i01b00What a mess!02b02i02font00 01b01font00?02font02b02br
02br
00- 01b00What + uncountable noun and plurals02b00 e.g. 01i01font01b00What nonsense! What big feet!02b02font02i02br
02br
01i01font02font02i02br
02br
01font00Can anyone explain the00 01b01i00What a mess!02i02b00 00as mess is clearly uncountable. Is it an exception to the rule or is there an explanation behind it?02font02br
02br
00Thank you.02br
02br
01b01i01font02font02i02b02br
02br
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Top answer

0Hi,02br 02br 00Messes can be counted. There's a mess in the living room, and another in the kitchen. 02br 02br 00Best wishes, Clive0-

— Clive

  • 0Hi,02br 02br 00Messes can be counted.
  • There's a mess in the living room, and another in the kitchen.
  • 02br 02br 00Best wishes, Clive0-
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13 Answers
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0Hi,02br
02br
00Messes can be counted. There's a mess in the living room, and another in the kitchen. That's two messes.02br
02br
00Best wishes, Clive0-
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Hi Clive,

Thanks for your answer but what about What a shame! Surely shame can not be counted?!

Cheers,

Manue
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Hi Manue,

Welcome to the Forum.

what about What a shame! Surely shame can not be counted?!

That certainly is a little trickier. I think the answer is that the word 'shame' has different meanings, including -

a feeling, eg I've never felt such shame

a capacity to feel shame, eg She has no shame
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Clive,

Thank you once again for your help. I understand it now but I think that I will keep this particular example until the end of the session as it might confuse them ;-)

Cheers,

Manue
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No, actually mess is countable.  You can make more than one mess and they are messes.
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What about:

"what a relief!" (uncountable)

"what a pity!" (uncountable)

???
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Anonymous"what a relief!" (uncountable)
"what a pity!" (uncountable)
They are OK. shame, pity, relief, and probably many others are 'nearly uncountable'. They allow the determiner a in certain circumstances, such as with exclamatory What a ...!

CJ
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mess/mes/ noun ( countable ,usually singular)
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What about talking about weather. Do we use "a" or not in the following sentences?
1-What weather!
2-What a nice weather!
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I've never heard in anyone use "messes" in my whole life, even the people with a lower command of English. And it doesn't appear in the dictionary as a plural (for the sake of argument, dictionaries do not have every single word and its plural form). When you say there's a mess in the kitchen and a mess in the living room, that doesn't make it countable. You can't split the mess in the kitchen. Yo
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