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Believer Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

Is that it?

I was looking at the Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner's English Dictionary for the word "distrust" and came upon the following definition or explanation. Can you tell me whether the underlined words (symbol??) "a N" means roughly "a noun that will (always??) accompany the article 'a'"? The noun "distrust" seems to be uncountable.

distrust N-UNCOUNT also a N
  

Top answer

Uncountable simply means it is impossible to say "one distrust, two distrusts"

— Philologist

  • Uncountable simply means it is impossible to say "one distrust, two distrusts"
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3 Answers
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Uncountable simply means it is impossible to say "one distrust, two distrusts" Emotion: smile
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a N means that, even though the noun distrust is uncountable (in the sense of two or three distrusts), it occurs with the article a in certain expressions, for example, those describing the kind or quality of the distrust.

CJ
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