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Believer Posted 20 years ago
Grammar
inconvenience
I have two sentences with the words "inconvenience" and "inconveniences" respectively and want to know if my interpretations are correct. I got the idea for the sentences from a post in the "Vocabulary and Idioms" section.
Our sincere apologies for inconvenience -- just a general use of the word "inconvenience. He/she might have used to circumvent the inconvenient situation of having to specify the inconveniences individually and thus, might have decided to use the general term "inconvenience."
Our sincere apologies for inconviniences -- the writer want to stress the multiplicity of inconvenience or just want to say that there are more than one instance of inconvenience and thus, opted to pluralize the noun.
Also, can you rewrite the underlined part to sound more smooth?
Our sincere apologies for inconvenience -- just a general use of the word "inconvenience. He/she might have used to circumvent the inconvenient situation of having to specify the inconveniences individually and thus, might have decided to use the general term "inconvenience."
Our sincere apologies for inconviniences -- the writer want to stress the multiplicity of inconvenience or just want to say that there are more than one instance of inconvenience and thus, opted to pluralize the noun.
Also, can you rewrite the underlined part to sound more smooth?
Top answer
My personal take is that inconvenience is a noncount noun in this context. We talk about 'a lot of inconvenience', 'some inconvenience' and so on. So I don't think inconveniences should ever be used.
- My personal take is that inconvenience is a noncount noun in this context.
- We talk about 'a lot of inconvenience', 'some inconvenience' and so on.
- So I don't think inconveniences should ever be used.
- When we apologise in this way, the usual phrases are We apologise for any inconvenience (this covering any amount of inconvenience but also inferring that there may or may not have been any inconvenience caused) or We apologise for the inconvenience (acknowledging that some inconvenience was caused, of any amount).
- Our apologies for inconvenience is incorrect, as is inconveniences.
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2 Answers
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My personal take is that inconvenience is a noncount noun in this context. We talk about 'a lot of inconvenience', 'some inconvenience' and so on. So I don't think inconveniences should ever be used. When we apologise in this way, the usual phrases are
We apologise for any inconvenience (this covering any amount of inconvenience but also inferring that there may or may not have been any i
We apologise for any inconvenience (this covering any amount of inconvenience but also inferring that there may or may not have been any i
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Believer,
I agree with your interpretations, but the word "the" should be placed before "inconvenience(s)" in both sentences.
... apologies for the (amount of) inconvenience.
... apologies for the (number of) inconveniences.
CJ
I agree with your interpretations, but the word "the" should be placed before "inconvenience(s)" in both sentences.
... apologies for the (amount of) inconvenience.
... apologies for the (number of) inconveniences.
CJ
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