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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Vocabulary
Uncountable nouns with the indefinite article?
Hello! A lot of uncountable nouns are said to only be used as uncountable in dictionaries. But quite many exceptions have got to me a lot, so I'm dead confused. Some examples are below:
1. Man gradually achieved 'A' greater mastery over his enviroment.
(hope to compare with this:
She possesses complete technical mastery of her instrument.)
2. There was 'A' rawness in the air that suggested snow.
(This is taken from one of works by W.S. Maugham)
3. He thought I had 'A' (an adjective was here, but I can't remember it) intelligence.
(I read this in an article)
There will be, of course, even more examples like these cases.
My dictionaries show that the indefinite article "a" is used when uncountable nouns are used with adjectives, but this explanation doesn't help me understand the reason.
My opinion is the indefinite article is like 'some' in this case, but it makes uncountable nouns much more concrete, or less abstract, than 'some' does. I mean, the uncountable noun modified by 'A' seems to be turned into nouns which we could think have shapes, or some boundness in mind, or something like a glass of water or a bottle of bear and so forth.
I'm looking forward to getting nice answers. Thanks in advance.
1. Man gradually achieved 'A' greater mastery over his enviroment.
(hope to compare with this:
She possesses complete technical mastery of her instrument.)
2. There was 'A' rawness in the air that suggested snow.
(This is taken from one of works by W.S. Maugham)
3. He thought I had 'A' (an adjective was here, but I can't remember it) intelligence.
(I read this in an article)
There will be, of course, even more examples like these cases.
My dictionaries show that the indefinite article "a" is used when uncountable nouns are used with adjectives, but this explanation doesn't help me understand the reason.
My opinion is the indefinite article is like 'some' in this case, but it makes uncountable nouns much more concrete, or less abstract, than 'some' does. I mean, the uncountable noun modified by 'A' seems to be turned into nouns which we could think have shapes, or some boundness in mind, or something like a glass of water or a bottle of bear and so forth.
I'm looking forward to getting nice answers. Thanks in advance.
Top answer
Anonymous My dictionaries show that the indefinite article "a" is used when uncountable nouns are used with adjectives, but this explanation doesn't help me understand the reason. It is called 'reclassification'. An adjective 'reclassifies' an uncountable concept into a countable set of the concept.
- Anonymous My dictionaries show that the indefinite article "a" is used when uncountable nouns are used with adjectives, but this explanation doesn't help me understand the reason.
- It is called 'reclassification'.
- An adjective 'reclassifies' an uncountable concept into a countable set of the concept.
- For instance, 'a greater mastery' by gaining the adjective becomes one of several potential 'masteries': 'a greater mastery', 'a lesser mastery', 'a small mastery', etc.
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6 Answers
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AnonymousMy dictionaries show that the indefinite article "a" is used when uncountable nouns are used with adjectives, but this explanation doesn't help me understand the reason.It is called 'reclassification'. An adjective 'reclassifies' an uncountable concept into a countable set of the concept. For instance, 'a greater mastery' by gaining the adjective b
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Mister MicawberAn adjective 'reclassifies' an uncountable concept into a countable set of the concept.I suspected the indefinite article should have that kind of function.
I'm not that wide of it.
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AnonymousDid you think all of the indefinite articlesin the examples are going this way?Yes.
Anonymoussomeone said the indefinite article puts emphasison the following noun.- that could be peculiarity, speciality, specificity, exceptionality and so on.This is just another way of explaining reclassification: it creates a se
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Non-count nouns can be concrete (coffee, furniture, clothing), obviously abstract (silence, hunger, space) or apparently somewhere in between (fog, fire). (Note that many of these nouns can also be used as count nouns - two coffees / furnitures of the 17th and 18th centuries... .) I agree that using an article with a non-concrete non-count noun adds a connotation of concreteness. Three fires; two
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Thanks! That helps me a lot! 
I think you could give me an answer to this:
Here is another: if other uncountable noun
I think you could give me an answer to this:
Here is another: if other uncountable noun
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Wow, I really didn't know that 'furniture' can also be used as countable, though in a few exceptional cases.Anonymous A furniture such as mid-Georgian would complement the decor in the salon.Anonymous furnitures of the 17th and 18th centuries...
I'm so happy to have another good examples.
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