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Vushcm Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Uncountabe noun
Hello,
Recently, I ran into the following sentence from Journal American Rhododendron Society:
"Jamaica is a countryside of extraordinary beauty with mountains hanging invitingly on the horizon, inviting the amateur naturalist to explore them." - The Discovery of Rhododendrons on Jamaica - By David G. Leach.
The noun 'countryside' is uncountable. That means it can only go either without the article 'the' or with it. We use an uncountable noun without 'the' for a general sense. For example: "Coffee is a popular drink." When we add 'the' to an uncountable noun, we need to make it more specific by a limiting modifying phrase or clause. For example: "The coffee in my cup is too hot to drink."
So should the above sentence have been written with 'the' instead 'a' for 'countryside'?
In addition, when we use "in the countryside" without a limiting modifying phrase or clause to be more specific in the beginning of an essay, we make a gramatical error too, right?
Thanks and best regards,
VUSHCM
Recently, I ran into the following sentence from Journal American Rhododendron Society:
"Jamaica is a countryside of extraordinary beauty with mountains hanging invitingly on the horizon, inviting the amateur naturalist to explore them." - The Discovery of Rhododendrons on Jamaica - By David G. Leach.
The noun 'countryside' is uncountable. That means it can only go either without the article 'the' or with it. We use an uncountable noun without 'the' for a general sense. For example: "Coffee is a popular drink." When we add 'the' to an uncountable noun, we need to make it more specific by a limiting modifying phrase or clause. For example: "The coffee in my cup is too hot to drink."
So should the above sentence have been written with 'the' instead 'a' for 'countryside'?
In addition, when we use "in the countryside" without a limiting modifying phrase or clause to be more specific in the beginning of an essay, we make a gramatical error too, right?
Thanks and best regards,
VUSHCM
Top answer
vushcm The noun 'countryside' is uncountable. Regardless of what the dictionaries say about a noun with regard to its countability, writers often use countable nouns as uncountable and use uncountable nouns as countable, so we can't always depend on the designations given in dictionaries. Here the author is using countryside as countable, as if it meant something like land or landscape .
- vushcm The noun 'countryside' is uncountable.
- Regardless of what the dictionaries say about a noun with regard to its countability, writers often use countable nouns as uncountable and use uncountable nouns as countable, so we can't always depend on the designations given in dictionaries.
- Here the author is using countryside as countable, as if it meant something like land or landscape .
- ) vushcm So should the above sentence have been written with 'the' instead 'a' for 'countryside'?
- No, as explained above.
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1 Answers
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vushcmThe noun 'countryside' is uncountable.Regardless of what the dictionaries say about a noun with regard to its countability, writers often use countable nouns as uncountable and use uncountable nouns as countable, so we can't always depend on the designations given in dictionaries.
Here the author is using countryside as countable, as i
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