Regarding The "A + Adjective + Uncountable Noun" Pattern
Hello everyone. I have a couple of questions.
Regarding the following two sentences:
(A) Mary gave me a practical knowledge about how to arrange my belongings in the closet neatly.
(B) Mary gave me practical knowledge about how to arrange my belongings in the closet neatly.
Q1 Are they both correct?
Q2 Which do you prefer, (A) or (B)?
Q3 I don't quite understand in what case we should put "a" before the "adjective + uncountable noun" construction. What criteria should we follow in a case like this?
Top answer
seagull Q1 Are they both correct? Yes. seagull Q2 Which do you prefer, (A) or (B)?
- seagull Q1 Are they both correct?
- Yes.
- seagull Q2 Which do you prefer, (A) or (B)?
- I'm pretty much indifferent to the choice, but if I had to choose, I'd choose (A).
- That said, I would probably say "gave me some practical knowledge about".
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seagullQ1 Are they both correct?
Yes.
seagullQ2 Which do you prefer, (A) or (B)?
I'm pretty much indifferent to the choice, but if I had to choose, I'd choose (A). That said, I would probably say "gave me some practical knowledge about".
seagullQ3 I don't quite understand in what case w
0I would object to "give knowledge."
Surely, studying and careful observation can give one knowledge. Knowledge is what you know, accumulated slowly over a long period of time. I would use something like this:
Mary gave me some practical advice / ideas about how to arrange my belongings in the closet neatly (based on her knowledge of principles of closet organization
0
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