mass noun and count noun

Question

mass nouna noun (as sand or water)  that characteristically denotes in many languages a homogeneous  substance or a concept without subdivisions and that in English is  preceded in indefinite singular constructions by some rather than a or an[M-W's Dictionary]count nouna noun (as bean or sheet) that forms a plural and is used with a numeral, with words such as many or few, or with the indefinite article a or an[M-W's Dictionary]1: What is an indefinite singular construction?2: What is an indefinite plural construction?3: What is an definite singular construction?4: What is an definite plural construction?5: As name suggests a count noun is countable, then how can one use indefinite article a or an with it?

Ant_222 · Accepted Answer

1. "a cat"
2. "cats" (as in "I hate cats")
3. "the cat" ("That's the cat that stole my sausage!")
4. The cats ("Those are the cats of Yuri Kuklachev")
5. There may exists some integer amounf of cats, right? The indefinite article "a" means "one" wich doesn't contradict with counability, though it's not compatible with uncountable nouns.

CalifJim · Answer

1. a car, a pencil, an elephant, a man, a person, a concept;
sand, water, meat, butter, milk, wine;
faith, sincerity, persistence, knowledge
2. cars, pencils, elephants, men, people, concepts;
some cars, some pencils, some elephants, some people, some concepts

3. the car, the pencil, the elephant, the man, the person, the concept;
the sand, the water, the meat, the butter, the milk, the wine;
the faith, the sincerity, the persistence, the knowledge
4. the cars, the pencils, the elephants, the men, the people, the concepts

5.

... a count noun is countable, then how can one use [the] indefinite article a or an with it?

It's easy. You just did it yourself when you wrote a count noun.

Countable doesn't mean definite. Countable doesn't mean indefinite either. If a noun is countable, it means that you can count whatever it is that is represented by that noun.

CJ

Yoong Liat · Answer

Hi Jackson

5: As name suggests a count noun is countable, then how can one use indefinite article a or an with it?

In grammar, 'countable' means that you can count the noun concerned. For example. an egg, one egg, two eggs, etc.

'Uncountable' means that particular noun cannot be literally counted. For example, one money, two monies, two sand, two sands.

Some may say some uncountable nouns can be counted. For example, one dollar, two dollars, two plates of rice, two cups of water, etc. But here you are counting 'dollars', 'plates' and 'cups', which are countable nouns.

I hope the above answers your question.

Best wishes

Jackson6612 · Answer

Thanks a lot for answering my questions.

Best wishes, Jackson

mass noun and count noun

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