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MUSCOVITE Posted 12 years ago
Vocabulary
form (noun) - is the indefinite article ever used before this noun?
Hi,
If you could help me?
"Please provide your materials in electronic form"
"Documentation in print form is no longer available"
"Once the data has been presented in digital form, we can..."
"It would be only suboptimal to handle measurements in analog form"
(1) Are the example sentences above OK?
(2) Why the correct grammar is "in electronic form", not (sic!) "in an electronic form"?
Looks like we have the same rule here as in "Nick is a great sportman! He is always in good form!"?
(3) What if we change from "form" to "format"?
"Please provide your materials in an electronic format" - is is OK?
Is my Longman right claiming that the noun "format" is (unlike "form") always countable?
mus-te
If you could help me?
"Please provide your materials in electronic form"
"Documentation in print form is no longer available"
"Once the data has been presented in digital form, we can..."
"It would be only suboptimal to handle measurements in analog form"
(1) Are the example sentences above OK?
(2) Why the correct grammar is "in electronic form", not (sic!) "in an electronic form"?
Looks like we have the same rule here as in "Nick is a great sportman! He is always in good form!"?
(3) What if we change from "form" to "format"?
"Please provide your materials in an electronic format" - is is OK?
Is my Longman right claiming that the noun "format" is (unlike "form") always countable?
mus-te
Top answer
MUSCOVITE (1) Are the example sentences above OK? Yes. ) "in an electronic form"?
- MUSCOVITE (1) Are the example sentences above OK?
- Yes.
- ) "in an electronic form"?
- Another mystery of the English language.
- It happens fairly often that an article is dropped after a preposition in commonly used phrases.
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5 Answers
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MUSCOVITE(1) Are the example sentences above OK?Yes.
MUSCOVITE(2) Why is the correct grammarAnother mystery of the English language. It happens fairly often that an article is dropped after a preposition in commonlyis"in electronic form", not (sic!) "in an electronic form"?
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Just to recap:
on one hand, we can say
(1) either "in an electronic form (format)" or ""in electronic form (format)"
(2) either "sth is in good condition" or "... in a good condition"??
on the other hand
we can only say
(1) "sth is in bad repair" (but never "sth is in a bad repair")
(2) "this sportsman is in good form at the moment" (but never "
on one hand, we can say
(1) either "in an electronic form (format)" or ""in electronic form (format)"
(2) either "sth is in good condition" or "... in a good condition"??
on the other hand
we can only say
(1) "sth is in bad repair" (but never "sth is in a bad repair")
(2) "this sportsman is in good form at the moment" (but never "
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MUSCOVITEeither "sth is in good condition" or "... in a good condition"I doubt you would hear "in a good condition" very often, but the rest of your observations seem correct to me.
MUSCOVITETotal absense of logic in English!Agree. A lot of those short prepositional phrases are almost like single words. They are units of
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CalifJimA lot of those short prepositional phrases are almost like single words. They are units of meaning in themselves, and as such they don't obey the usual rules.Many thanks for another interesting comment!
CalifJimI doubt you would hear "in a good condition" very often, but the rest of your observations seem correct to me.
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Anonymous... the hit list for in good condition would be much much much longer than that for in a good conditionThat doesn't surprise me.
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