using a noun generally

Question

Hi,I learned that you can use a noun such as 'apple', 'tomato', and 'stew', either generally or individually. I also learned that when using them individually, you are using them like any countable noun -- you can touch, feel and taste them; but what I have trouble is using the words like the ones above generally. Can I feel, touch, or eat them when I use them generally?? I think not. I think we are talking about qualities, different from the case of using of mass nouns like 'meat', which belongs to a different classification category and can be used as types or brands. A case in point being a frozen meat -- it can be seen, touched and eaten when thawed.  Can you provide some examples that show the correct usage of words like 'apple', 'tomato', and 'stew' generally? Thank you.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

The apple is a popular fruit grown in many countries.

Best wishes, Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you so much, Clive.

I searched for some information on these forums and came upon this thread started by User_gary, which is named "Put a lemon in my soup." For his starting post, Nef wrote back with this:

User_gary wrote:

When should I use to say the following sentences? or what is the difference in the meaning of following sentences?

Put some lemon in my soup. You want some lemon flavor, probably a little juice or a little bit of fruit, in your soup.

Put a lemon in my soup. You want a whole lemon (the entire fruit) in your soup. This is quite different from the other two sentences.

Put lemon in my soup. This is very much like the first sentence.

Now, I checked my dictionary and it said 'lemon' is a variable noun, meaning it works like an uncountable noun if used generally (whatever that means ....)

Now, I am going to make some sentences with some other variable nouns. Can you tell me if the subsequent explanations are correct or not?

I had potato/some potato for dinner today. You tasted some potato-like flavor or possibly little bits of a whole potato but seriously, I cannot imagine how much or how many plates you had.

I had stew/some stew for dinner today. You tasted some stew in order to get the feel of what it tastes like but you didn't have a bowlful of stew.

I had salad/some salad for dinner today. You had a tiny portion of salad to get the feel of what it tastes like but not a bowlful of it.

I had apple/some apple for dinner today. (I don't know why but a dictionary had 'apple' as a variable noun) Same as above

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Now, I am going to make some sentences with some other variable nouns. Can you tell me if the subsequent explanations are correct or not? No, you haven't got the correct idea. Please consider my comments, and try again if you want to.

I had potato/some potato for dinner today. You tasted some potato-like flavor or possibly little bits of a whole potato but seriously, I cannot imagine how much or how many plates you had. If I had individual potatoes, eg boiled ones, I'd say 'I had potatoes for dinner'. If they were mashed together, I'd say 'I had potato/some potato for dinner'.

I had stew/some stew for dinner today. You tasted some stew in order to get the feel of what it tastes like but you didn't have a bowlful of stew. No. Both of these mean basically the same. ie I had dinner today. What I ate was stew. 'Stew' is a general reference, eg 'Stew is a traditional Irish food'. 'Some stew' means an unspecifed quantity of stew.

I have the same comment about the following examples.

I had salad/some salad for dinner today. You had a tiny portion of salad to get the feel of what it tastes like but not a bowlful of it.

I had apple/some apple for dinner today. (I don't know why but a dictionary had 'apple' as a variable noun) Same as above

Best wishes, Clive

Anonymous · Answer

In the preceding post of yours, you said:

Please consider my comments, and try again if you want to.

Thank you for your kind invitation for another try and I am going to follow through with your invitation.

I was doing my own study on the matter by checking these forums' old posts and I think I saw Yankee having written something like this:

I had pizza for dinner. -- If I understood your explanations correctly, it is saying, "I had pizza, not an actual pizza in a restaurant setting that is piping hot and full of delectible toppings, but a 'non-substance' but 'general-reference' pizza." What I can think of it is when I am dreaming, I might have this feeling, "Umm, I wish I can have pizza for three days in a row." -- here, it is a wish with no physical substance (of a pizza) in mind. Like a person seeing a picture of a pizza and dreaming, "Umm, I wish I can have pizza for dinner." -- he cannot smell or see a pizza with his eyes but based on what he knows a pizza to be, he wishes for this concept-based pizza.

Like saying, "I had salad for dinner," here, he is not making this statement without any specific bowl of salad in mind but making a concept-based reference. Had he said, "I had a salad for dinner," it could be understood as having ate an actual bowl of salad in a restaurant setting with his choices of fruit and vegetables and sauce.

Going back to 'pizza', I like to have salami and sausage on mine, and withstanding that interest of mine, I tried to find definitions for them and came up with these (Mind you both are variable nouns, as far as I know):

1. sausage: A sausage consists of minced meat mixed with ...

2. salami: Salami is a type of sausage that is ...

I think you would agree the definition of salami is based on a general or concept-based reference to what an actual salami is; whereas, the definition of sausage is based on a reference to an actual sausage, a tube-shaped form of mixed meat, that will very well taste good on a pizza.

using a noun generally

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