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Victorycountry Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Uncountable noun that is preceded by the "a"

0 Hi, 02br
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00According to the "Longman Student Grammar" abstract nouns (such as education, kindness) can have countable and uncountable. 02br
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00(e.g.) 02br
001. What's your highest level of education? => uncountable 02br
00 Although she was a girl she wanted an education => countable 02br
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00In the countable case, can "an education" be any education such as primary school, middle school, or University? 02br
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00According to some other contents on the indefinite article "a/an", the "a(n)" specifies types or particular instances of nouns. 02br
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00(e.g) 02br
001) a cruel kindness => what type of kindess? cruel => The "cruel" modifies the uncountable "kindness" 02br
002) I have not seen you for a long time => How long haven't you seen him for? for a long time => "long" specifies or modifies the uncountable "time" 02br
003) There was a poor attendence at the meeting => How big attendence did the meeting have? 02br
00"a poor attendence" => the "poor" modifies or specifies the uncountable "attendence" 02br
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00In above cases, do you regard those uncountable nouns as countable nouns? 02br
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00It's still a bit confusing me because of following examples. 02br
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00a) Because our charity event had such high attendance, we have reached our donation goals.(One of TOEIC questions) 02br
00=> I thought it has to be "a high attendance" as in (3), it's "a poor attendance" not "poor attendance" 02br
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00b) There is great support for their case. 02br
00(An article on "Liverpool" at BBC Newspaper) 02br
00=> Why it isn't "a great support" even though "support" is uncountable if above explanation is correct, isn't that have to be "a great support"? 02br
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00Thanks in advance. 0-
  

Top answer

0The short answer, VC, is that they don't 01i 00necessarily02i 00 become countable-- it is often the speaker's option/conception that makes the choice. 02br 02br 001. g.

— Mister Micawber

  • 0The short answer, VC, is that they don't 01i 00necessarily02i 00 become countable-- it is often the speaker's option/conception that makes the choice.
  • 02br 02br 001.
  • g.
  • 'an adequate education'.
  • ' And yes, if they have an indefinite article, they are singular countable nouns.
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17 Answers
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0The short answer, VC, is that they don't 01i00necessarily02i00 become countable-- it is often the speaker's option/conception that makes the choice. 02br
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001. (you have no '2') 02br
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00In the countable case, can "an education" be any education such as primary school, middle school, or University?12blockquo
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0 Thanks for the reply, Mr. M. 02br
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00I've understood that it is possible to use either the indefinite article or zero article in such a case. 02br
00But I am still wondering whether you decide to have an indefinite article, does it make much difference in meaning? Or Is it like "Liverpool is leading by 1:0", "Liverpool are attacking again". Here "Liverpool"
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0Yes, I think it's like-- the example I use-- 'the Yankees are winning / New York is winning'. No substantial difference in content. 0-
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0 Hello VictoryCountry 02br
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00The question you raised is nice. Why do people sometimes add 'a' to 00 and sometimes do not? What is the rule for the choice? These questions have long remained mysterious to me and still now they are so. 02br
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00By the way, as for "an education", my E-J dictionary suggests it is used to mean a person's knowledge
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0In most cases, Paco-01del00as in many other structural/lexical choices we have looked at here02del00 it is the speaker's concept at the moment. 02br
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00'There was poor attendence at the meeting' -- the speaker is thinking of a visual mass of empty seats, the lack of enthusiasm, the disinterest people had: uncountable qualities. 02br
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0 Mr P, thank you for the quick response. 02br
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00What balance is required to choose the article or discard it seems to me to be impossible to pinpoint.12blockquote
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00So I should give up trying to catch it. 02br
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00paco 0-
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0It depends on how busy your schedule is. 02br
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0 Mr Mic 02br
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00Yes you may be right. But you know, probably I have only a decade or less to kick my bucket. 02br
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00paco 0-
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0My dictionary says that "kindness" is an uncountable noun with no mention of it being a variable noun.02br
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00That's where my Q lies. How can it be "a cruel kindness" with an article "a"? 0-
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0Hi,02br
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00I'd like to add a comment. 02br
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00My dictionary defines kindness as 01font001. state or quality of being kind. 2. 01i00a kind act.02i02font02br
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00eg I believe that Confucius said 'Forget injuries, never forget 01b00kindness01font
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