Do you have a jacket?/do you have jacket?

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Kuljc03

#154257 Wed, 02 Nov 05 12:26 PM

Hello.

I just have this thing that really confuses me with noun. I always tend to put "-s" after every noun. And, sometimes i try to generalize noun without putting any "-s" and article "a" . I just want to know in which cases do i not use any of "-s" and article "a/an" or "the".? Do i not put those when I just try to generalize the noun? e.g. Jack, do you have jacket at home? (here, you don't know how many jackets does Jack have . So, do you generalize by saying only "jacket" or do you say "Jack, do you have a jacket at home OR Jack, do you have jackets at home?"

Oh, and there's one more question. "Who lives in igloos?" OR "Who live in igloos?" which one is correct?

Please, I get really confused up! I am near-native, but I still have this problem! I just want to make sure! plz!

Thanx Smile [:)]

Kuljc03

Joined on Wed, Nov 2 2005

On Earth

New Member (30)

"There is no perfect answer; only interpretations"

Articles, Nouns

Mister Micawber

#154299 Wed, 02 Nov 05 01:55 PM

Normally, you would be asking if Jack has any jackets at all (i.e. does he have protection from the cold?). For singular countable nouns, an article (a/an/the jacket) is always needed, unless it is replaced by a demonstrative (this jacket) or a possessive (your jacket). Generalization has nothing to do with it.

Jack, do you have a jacket at home?

Do you have (any/some) jackets is possible, but only if you are enquiring about the extent of Jack's wardrobe: Do you have (any/some) sweaters? Do you have (any/some) anoraks? Notice that natural English usually includes the determiners some or any.

Re your second question, both are OK. Who can be singular or plural, depending on context:

I love my wife, who is standing next to me.
I love my children, who are at day camp.

In your case, the plural igloos recommends the plural verb:

Who live in igloos?
Who lives in an igloo?

Mister Micawber

Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004

Yokohama

Veteran Member (22,643)

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

Articles, Verbs, Plurals, Possessives, Nouns, Countable Nouns, Determiners

pieanne

#154387 Wed, 02 Nov 05 04:48 PM

Mister Micawber wrote:

In your case, the plural igloos recommends the plural verb:

Who live in igloos?
Who lives in an igloo?

MM, is there a rule for that?

pieanne

Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005

South of France ...But I'm Belgian!

Veteran Member (7,512)

I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...

Verbs, Plurals

khoff

#154422 Wed, 02 Nov 05 07:40 PM

Mr. M. - I don't know the rule, but using "who" with a plural verb sounds really strange to me. I think I would always use it with the singular form of the verb, even if I expected the answer to be plural. Who lives in igloos? Who likes President Bush? Who reads English Forums? I can't imagine saying "who live...", "'who like..", or "who read..." at the beginning of a question. (Of course, in a statement like "people who read English Forums are the luckiest people in the world" I would use the plural form of the verb.) Is this a British/American distinction, or am I just really wrong on this one??

khoff

Joined on Sun, Mar 6 2005

Denver, Colorado, USA, Earth

Senior Member (2,616)

Native speaker of American English (but not a grammar expert)

Verbs, Plurals

paco2004

#154454 Wed, 02 Nov 05 09:47 PM

To me "Who live in those houses?" sounds natural. I'll use "Who live in the area?" as a neutral question. If I expect an answer like "Nobody", I'll say "Who lives in such an area?".

paco

paco2004

Joined on Wed, Nov 17 2004

Senior Member (4,095)

In Japan today even dogs are learning how to bow-wow in English.

Mister Micawber

#154523 Thu, 03 Nov 05 01:10 AM

Is this a British/American distinction, or am I just really wrong on this one??

Well, we're both Americans, so it couldn't be that. In the cold light of dawn, I am not as brash as I was in the happy hours last night. A new tentativeness has set in. Yet, rolling them on my tongue, the plural verb doesn't sound too bad when I have many in mind: Who carry the palanquin? Actually, I think I got embroiled in this discussion before and lost (at least morally).

And sorry for the inappropriate examples: relatives do not necessarily behave like interrogatives.

Well, that's that off my chest.. on to further pontifications...

Mister Micawber

Verbs, Plurals

khoff

#154628 Thu, 03 Nov 05 06:21 AM

relatives do not necessarily behave like interrogatives. My relatives usually do.

And speaking of my relatives - my daughter is with me on the singular verb following the interrogative "who," and likens it to the single verb following "everybody" as well as "nobody."

Who lives in igloos? Nobody lives in igloos. Everybody lives in igloos. (not "everybody live in igloos," which works as an exhortation but not as a statement of fact.)

I LOVE ENGLISH FORUMS!

khoff

Verbs, Singular Verbs

Anonymous

#154634 Thu, 03 Nov 05 06:31 AM

Who live in igloos? The Inuit do.

Anonymous