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Elcid Posted 22 years ago
Grammar
What or What a??
I read the grammatical rule that we use "what " where we have non countable things and "what a " where we can count things.
But at the same time we say
"what a nonsense !" How can we use "what a " here . we cant count nonsense. Similarly in many sentences where I think we should not use "what a" we still use it.
Is there something wrong with my interpretation of nonsense as a non countable thing?
But at the same time we say
"what a nonsense !" How can we use "what a " here . we cant count nonsense. Similarly in many sentences where I think we should not use "what a" we still use it.
Is there something wrong with my interpretation of nonsense as a non countable thing?
Top answer
' And 'nonsense' is indeed uncountable. However, I would be interested in other cases you have found.
- ' And 'nonsense' is indeed uncountable.
- However, I would be interested in other cases you have found.
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7 Answers
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Who says that, elcid?-- the normal phrase is 'what nonsense!' And 'nonsense' is indeed uncountable. However, I would be interested in other cases you have found.
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Rather than the countable / uncountable paradigm, can we not abide by singular / plural? "Nonsense" in that context is a plural noun (collectively referring to things of no sense), so it wouldn't be proper to use "a". You can see it works if you observe case:
- What a great idea!
- What great ideas!
- What fine roses you have in your garden!
- What a wonderful thing to sa
- What a great idea!
- What great ideas!
- What fine roses you have in your garden!
- What a wonderful thing to sa
00
It doesn't work that way, Moby. If 'nonsense' is a plural noun, what is the singular form? Can we have 'two nonsense'? None of your examples show anything more than 'what a + singular countable common noun' vs 'what + plural countable common noun'.
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Maybe I should have avoided the word plural. I don't know how to describe it the textbook way, but nouns that refer to a collective such as "nonsense", "wood", "knowledge", etc., should not be preceded by "a". Ignore the examples I gave, but the point is that "What a nonsense" is not correct because "nonsense" is certainly not a singular noun, whatever else it may be.
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Hi, Mr., well, I'm not sure about these:
What a shame
What a mess
Is there something like: what shames, what messes.
What a shame
What a mess
Is there something like: what shames, what messes.
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I have a feeling that some of these are becoming idiomatic, Latin; we don't see the plural often; but yes, shame, mess and pity can be countable nouns. I've never heard 'what shames' or 'what pities', but 'what messes children make' I should think is reasonably common!
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Actually, "nonsense" (as well as "wood", "knowledge", etc.) are all singular noncount nouns.
Maybe the question should not be when to use "what" vs. "what a". Maybe it's just a matter of saying that, in this type of expression, "what" precedes whatever the usual indefinite noun phrase normally is.
noncount nouns, singular: no article, noun only ("nonsense", "butter", "faith
Maybe the question should not be when to use "what" vs. "what a". Maybe it's just a matter of saying that, in this type of expression, "what" precedes whatever the usual indefinite noun phrase normally is.
noncount nouns, singular: no article, noun only ("nonsense", "butter", "faith
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