It gave him great / a great satisfaction

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Anonymous

#555767 Sun, 17 Aug 08 09:54 AM

I'd appreciate it if someone would answer my question. Thanks in advance.

Are the following 2 sentences the same in meaning? If not, what's the difference?

A: It gave him great satisfaction to have climbed that mountain.

B: It gave him a great satisfaction to have climbed that mountain.

I think "great satisfaction" in A is obscure, but "a great satisfaction" is concrete.
Does "a great satisfaction" in A mean the kind of his satisfaction or the extent to which he felt satisfied?

Anonymous

Mister Micawber

#555768 Sun, 17 Aug 08 09:57 AM

.
This comes under the classification of fixed phrases, I think. Although the article is possible, it is made exceedingly awkward by the popularity of the phrase, 'to give (one) great satisfaction to...'

Mister Micawber

Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004

Yokohama

Veteran Member (22,324)

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

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