are these acceptable with an uncountable noun

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Anonymous  #439760  Wed, 07 Nov 07 08:30 AM

Hi,

Are these adjectives, namely 'different' and 'various', goes correctly with an uncountable noun?

Identifying different variety (should it be 'varieties'???) of rice seeds 

serving various wine

about different education culture -- Is the word 'culture' uncountable?  

  
Clive  #439826  Wed, 07 Nov 07 01:52 PM

Hi,

Are these adjectives, namely 'different' and 'various', goes correctly with an uncountable noun?

Identifying different variety (should it be 'varieties'??? Yes. ) of rice seeds 

serving various wines

about different education culture -- Is the word 'culture' uncountable?  No, it's not.

Best wishes, Clive

  
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Anonymous  #440579  Fri, 09 Nov 07 02:49 PM

Thank you.

How would you know that the word 'culture' is not uncountable? If it is not uncountable, why does it not have an article in front of it? Doesn't the word 'different' demand a plural form of the word 'culture' like the word 'various' in the previous sentence?

about different education culture  

  
Clive  #440592  Fri, 09 Nov 07 03:23 PM

Hi,

about different education culture -- Is the word 'culture' uncountable?  No, it's not.

How would you know that the word 'culture' is not uncountable? If it is not uncountable, why does it not have an article in front of it? Doesn't the word 'different' demand a plural form of the word 'culture' like the word 'various' in the previous sentence? Yes, your phrase 'about different education culture' is not really correct, use the plural form, ie 'about different education(al) cultures'.   In my previous response, I was not trying to correct your phrase, I was just giving a general answer to what seemed to be a general question, ie Is the word 'culture' uncountable?

You can see that is is countable if you consider examples like these.

China has an interesting culture.

China and Britain have two different cultures.

Best wishes, Clive 

  
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