0
Zazzex Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
How to determine whether a noun is uncountable?
system, income, increase, profit, business, use, sense, etc.
So many nouns are hard for me to determine whether they are countable, uncountable, or both in some cases.
I have to look up each new word in the dictionary every time, which consumes most of my writing time.
Q1. Whenever Americans learn a new word, do they try to look it up in a dictionary to find whether it is countable or not?
If they don't, do they just depend on common sense for such determination, which is likely to cause frequent errorneous uses and spread-out of errors, which Americans are willing to tolerate? If they do tolerate it, I feel I don't have to look it up in a dictionary. ;-)
Q2. Or are there better knacks to determine a word's countability non-native speakers can learn?
I know material nouns, and abstract nouns are uncountable, which definitely is not enough to determine a noun's countability.
So many nouns are hard for me to determine whether they are countable, uncountable, or both in some cases.
I have to look up each new word in the dictionary every time, which consumes most of my writing time.
Q1. Whenever Americans learn a new word, do they try to look it up in a dictionary to find whether it is countable or not?
If they don't, do they just depend on common sense for such determination, which is likely to cause frequent errorneous uses and spread-out of errors, which Americans are willing to tolerate? If they do tolerate it, I feel I don't have to look it up in a dictionary. ;-)
Q2. Or are there better knacks to determine a word's countability non-native speakers can learn?
I know material nouns, and abstract nouns are uncountable, which definitely is not enough to determine a noun's countability.
Top answer
zazzex Whenever Americans learn a new word, do they try to look it up in a dictionary to find whether it is countable or not? I don't know if this will be of any help but, for what it's worth, here goes. Whenever I encounter a new word (one that I have to look up) I'm never thinking in terms of countable/uncountable.
- zazzex Whenever Americans learn a new word, do they try to look it up in a dictionary to find whether it is countable or not?
- I don't know if this will be of any help but, for what it's worth, here goes.
- Whenever I encounter a new word (one that I have to look up) I'm never thinking in terms of countable/uncountable.
- I'm just looking for the definition.
- Once I have that I know everything I need to know to use the word myself.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
2 Answers
0
zazzexWhenever Americans learn a new word, do they try to look it up in a dictionary to find whether it is countable or not?I don't know if this will be of any help but, for what it's worth, here goes.
Whenever I encounter a new word (one that I have to look up) I'm never thinking in terms of countable/uncountable. I'm just looking for the definition
00
Hi,
I woneder if you are thinking a bit of the terms 'countable/uncountable' as labels, without thinking enough about what they actually mean.
A countable noun is something you can actually count.
eg '1 chair, two chairs, 3 chairs'.
eg '1 mistake, 2 mistakes, 3 mistakes'.
I can understand why you might have trouble with some of the words in your list
I woneder if you are thinking a bit of the terms 'countable/uncountable' as labels, without thinking enough about what they actually mean.
A countable noun is something you can actually count.
eg '1 chair, two chairs, 3 chairs'.
eg '1 mistake, 2 mistakes, 3 mistakes'.
I can understand why you might have trouble with some of the words in your list
0
Related Questions