ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: the word "lack" countable or uncountable

Ant_222 — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:47:46 GMT

N2G: Â«I agree with GG that Death is absence (NADA) of life and so is vacuum of air.Â»

You meant "_the_ absence" for death and "an absence" for vacuum?
What's NADA?
Is "lack" a 'partial absence'? If not, then what don't you like with this word?

Re: the word "lack" countable or uncountable

New2grammar — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:42:34 GMT

I agree with GG that Death is absence (NADA) of life and so is vacuum of air.

Re: the word "lack" countable or uncountable

Ant_222 — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:29:14 GMT

GG:

Wow, now I am at a loss...

Zero article:
Â«Death is lack of life, illness lack of health, poverty lack of wealth, and ignorance lack of knowledge.Â» â Sanderson Beck, Middle East and Africa, 1875.

With "a":
Â«Death is a lack of life.Â» â See Carl Schmitt, âThe Visibility of the Church: A Scholastic Consideration,â Appendix to Carl Schmitt, Roman Catholicism and Political Form, tr. and annotated by G. L. Ulmen (Westport, Conn. and London: Greenwood Press, 1996), p. 56.

How do authors decide? How do you decide?

Re: the word "lack" countable or uncountable

Huevos — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:27:11 GMT

Grammar Geek
I would, without doubt, write that as "due to a lack of time."

Maybe you would but either way is good.

Anonymous
we know for sure we never put "a" in front of "water"

Yes you can: I'll have a beer; and I'll have a water.

Re: the word "lack" countable or uncountable

Grammar Geek — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:18:18 GMT

Death is the absense of life.

A vacuum is an abense of air.

I wouldn't say either of them the way you have it.

Re: the word "lack" countable or uncountable

Ant_222 — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:16:23 GMT

GG: what about these:

Death is lack of life
Vacuum is lack of air

I'd certainly use them without an article...

Re: the word "lack" countable or uncountable

Grammar Geek — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:11:08 GMT

Ant_222
As I understand. it also can be uncontable: "We didn't implement all the features due to lack of time"

And in most cases only one usage is possible â either coutable or not.

I would, without doubt, write that as "due to a lack of time."

Perhaps it is American/British.

(I think Clive was having a bit of fun - I don't think he would say "he has three lacks.")

Re: the word "lack" countable or uncountable

Ant_222 — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:26:03 GMT

As I understand. it also can be uncontable: "We didn't implement all the features due to lack of time"

And in most cases only one usage is possible â either coutable or not.

Re: the word "lack" countable or uncountable

Yoong Liat — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:05:42 GMT

Hi Clive

I was taught that 'lack' is an uncountable noun. However, in my country, we learn BrE, so could it be a case of BrE vs AmE?

Best wishes

Re: the word "lack" countable or uncountable

Clive — Fri, 09 May 2008 03:30:23 GMT

Hi,

I don't see why you can't count lacks.

He has a lack of maturity. He has a lack of money. He has a lack of intelligence. That's three lacks.

Best wishes, Clive

the word "lack" countable or uncountable

Anonymous — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:35:16 GMT

Hi there,

I am from an asian country (korea) and Korean doesn't distinguish countable or uncountable nouns so I have some problem with this concept even though I have been living in english speaking country for 10 years.

Now the word "lack" according to the online Longman dictionary is an uncountable noun, as well as a singular noun.

But we usually say "a lack of quality" or "a lack of resources".

Now we know for sure we never put "a" in front of "water" because "water" is an uncountable noun, as in "furniture" or "stuff".

So how is it that word "lack" can have an indefinite article in front of it?

Does it mean that the English language lacks logic inherently?

Thanks.