moon cannot be a uncountable, can it?

Question

Hi,The sentence below is from a Cobuild Dictionary but I am having hard time to picture it correctly. Would you tell me the logic behind of the underlined part? To me, 'motif" is a countable noun so as "moon" and so, "with a moons and stars motif" or "with a stars-and-a-moon motif" seems correct. - He then stencilled the ceiling with a moon and stars motif.Thank you,M

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Actually, in my opinion, the sentence is incorrect. It should be "He then stenciled the ceiling with a moon and star motif." The words "moon" and "star" here are nouns functioning as adjectives. For example:

He painted a moon motif on the ceiling.

He painted a star motif on the ceiling.

In the above two sentences you have "moon" and "star" functioning as adjectives. You might then combine the sentences:

He painted a moon and star motif on the ceiling.

In this context, the idea of plurals for any of the words simply does not enter into the picture. "Moon" and "star" are simply nouns functioning as adjectives, and nouns functioning as adjectives are always singular, since adjectives are not declined in English:

The red shoes. Not: The reds shoes.

The house slippers. Not: The houses slipper.

The moon landings. Not: The moons landings.

CalifJim · Answer

mitsuwao23Would you tell me the logic behind of the underlined part? ... with a moon and stars motif

~ with a motif consisting of the moon and stars.

When you change the order and put "the moon and stars" in front of motif, you run into this problem:

with a the moon and stars motif

You can't have two determiners in a row, so you drop the determiner that goes with 'moon'.

(If you had "a moon and stars", you'd have a similar problem: with a a moon and stars motif. The solution is the same.)

Your solution was to reverse the order: with a stars-and-a-moon motif.

CJ

Mitsuo23 · Answer

crystal clear, always. can't expect more.

Thanks,
M

GPY · Answer

mitsuwao23- He then stencilled the ceiling with a moon and stars motif.

In my view this should be written as "a moon-and-stars motif".

moon cannot be a uncountable, can it?

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