Clothes

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Lcchang

#355994 Thu, 26 Apr 07 11:15 AM

The employees collected several _____ to give to the poor.

A) clothes
B) some clothes
C) bags of clothes
D) bag of clothes

The given answer is C.

But, if "clothes" is a countable noun and in plural form, why not choose A as well? Please advise.

LCChang

Lcchang

Joined on Mon, Feb 27 2006

Northern Taiwan

Contributing Member (1,023)

Life will never end.

Plurals, Nouns, Countable Nouns

Doll

#356005 Thu, 26 Apr 07 11:55 AM

I think A may be correct too but here writer tried to imply that a lot of clothes were given that they were put in the bags to be delivered.

Doll

Joined on Sat, Mar 10 2007

Turkey

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Old Man Gordon

#356025 Thu, 26 Apr 07 12:33 PM

I don't accept that clothes is countable. By most criteria for countable nouns, it is not.

Countable nouns must be modifiable by a number.

Countable nouns must occur in both the singular and plural.

I cannot say I have many clothes, but I can say I have a lot of clothes. The wor is better understood as a mass noun, although most mass nouns are singular.

Old Man Gordon

Joined on Fri, Mar 16 2007

Ypsitucky, MI, USA

Full Member (272)

Plurals, Nouns, Numbers, Countable Nouns

Tanit

#356026 Thu, 26 Apr 07 12:36 PM

Lcchang wrote:

But, if "clothes" is a countable noun and in plural form, why not choose A as well? Please advise.

I think that 'clothes' is not countable. You wouldn't say, for instance,
*I have a clothes
*I have three clothes

There's something related here, but I'm afraid it doesn't answer your question Sad [:(] .

We'd better wait for a native!

Tanit

Joined on Mon, Jul 31 2006

In the middle of the Mediterranean Sea

Senior Member (2,308)

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Plurals, Nouns, Countable Nouns

Tanit

#356032 Thu, 26 Apr 07 12:54 PM

Well, I am still puzzled and cannot decide if we can say "several clothes." By searching on Google in British websites only , I've noticed that nearly all the occurrences use 'clothes' as a noun modifier. Eg 'several clothes shops', 'several clothes stalls', 'several clothes items', 'several clothes sizes' and so on.

Some exceptions can be found at the BBClearningenglish website, but they're in the students' blog (so, they haven't been written by native speakers).

To sum up, I'm under the impression that a BrE native speaker wouldn't say "I have several clothes." Is that correct?

(PS: thanks, Lcchang, for this question!)

Tanit

Nouns

Marius Hancu

#356037 Thu, 26 Apr 07 01:02 PM

>To sum up, I'm under the impression that a BrE native speaker wouldn't say "I have several clothes."

I think you're right.

But I think it's plural, not uncountable.
------------
clothes

plural noun

things such as dresses and trousers that you wear to cover, protect or decorate your body:

She usually wears smart/casual clothes.
I'm just putting my clothes on.
Take your clothes off and get in the bath.
designer clothes
a clothes shop
See pictures , , , .

(from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
-------

Marius Hancu

Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006

Montreal, Canada

Veteran Member (11,673)

Plurals, Nouns

Tanit

#356040 Thu, 26 Apr 07 01:22 PM

Marius Hancu wrote:

But I think it's plural, not uncountable.

And so do I.

Tanit

Plurals

Lcchang

#356167 Thu, 26 Apr 07 05:52 PM

Hi all,

I am pretty sure that clothes is a plural noun but I don't know whether it is countable or non-countable; my dictionaries don't mention it. Plural but non-countable sounds weird to me, though.

I guess why so many non-native speakers including me are confused about using the word "clothes" is that we think clothes is like a jacket, a sweater, a pair of socks etc that we are wearing. But to my understanding, a jacket doesn't equal clothes but just a piece/ suit of clothing. That is, clothes means the things you wear from top to bottom, not just a single item. Therefore, if you say "several clothes", it sounds like you have one, two, or three clothes which is not grammatically allowed to use. Using "many clothes" is OK because it doesn't express a number.

Last, I think clothes is countable but you have to use it with quantifier-- many, a lot of, some, etc. Or use nothing before it. Just my two cent and please make comments about my opinion.

LCChang

Lcchang

Plurals, Nouns, Numbers