Search results for 'tag:Abstract nouns tag:Countable or uncountable' matching tags 'Abstract nouns' and 'Countable or uncountable'

Re: Use of a plural

CalifJim — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:27:08 GMT

Anonymous
a plural version of a noun that could be either countable or uncountable.

There's no such thing as an uncountable noun in the plural. Plurality is one of the marks of countability. Once the noun is in the plural you know you are dealing with a countable noun.

Anonymous
that a person desires to use it is a good enough reason to use it or them?

Not just desire. Very accomplished writers with a fine ear for the language are able to gauge when it is useful to present an apparent uncountable in the plural -- especially when it's a matter of abstract nouns. The majority of us merely competent writers don't typically invent such novel turns of phrase.

Re: Articles (a, an)

Yoong Liat — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:25:21 GMT

Hoa Thai wrote:
First, thank you for your reply. Now if you can help me a bit further, I would appreciate very much.

If advice is an uncountable abstract noun, then advices must be wrong, right? (Yesterday, my father gave me his advice. Today, my mother gives me hers. I don't like their ~~two~~ advice at all! 'Advice' is uncountable, so 'two advices' is wrong.)

Now, how could opinion be countable? I certainly cannot physically sense it...opinion and advice are not synonymous but they are both thought related, I think. So why are they different? [ opinion (singular), opinions (plural) Your opinion is what you think about someone or something based on your personal judgement. Advice (uncountable) You give someone advice when you suggest what they should do in a certain situation.

I hope the definitions I've extracted from the dictionary will enable you to see the difference between 'advice' and 'opinion'.]

Regarding satisfaction, here is an online sentence that goes with a:
"Even in those jurisdictions, however, a gift may still be treated as a satisfaction of legacy if such an intention is expressed in a written document made ..."
So the sentence is grammatically incorrect, right? But, doesn't treated as satisfaction of legacy sound unpleasant to you? ( I missed out the fact that 'satisfaction' can be a countable noun. So 'satisfaction' can be countable or uncountable depending on context.) Her success gave her parents a lot of satisfaction. (uncountable noun). A satisfaction is something that gives a feeling of pleasure or contentment ... the immense satisfactions (countable noun) of parenthood.

Shouldn't there be a source, from which we, ESL learners, can learn abstract nouns' nuances?

Thanks
Hoa Thai

countable or uncountable? That is the question...

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 05:42:35 GMT

I am one of those people who learned American English as a second language.

American English dictionaries never mention anything about a particular noun being countable and uncountable. I learned mass nouns and abstract nouns, both of which are uncountable. I had thought it was up to an individual to decide whether a noun is mass or abstract one, therefore uncountable.

After having lived in the States for so many years, I discovered that British English dictionaries do designate each noun as countable noun or uncountable or both.

I am quite curious as to who decides such things. Do they take votes among the "expert grammarians"?

I discovered yesterday that 'announcement' is a countable noun and I had thought until then it was an uncountable one because it sounded as if it were an abstract one.

I hope somebody will have some good answers to this thought-provoking( (-; ) question.

Re: Countable Or Uncountable?

paco2004 — Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:56:17 GMT

Hello Infinity.

I'm a mere English learner from Japan, but could you allow me to throw my 2 cents on your question?

Frankly speaking, I'd say you'd better give up the hope you could get a conclusive answer to the question. I have raised a similar question before in this forum but I could not get enough persuasive responses (Post:56071).

As for some nouns (especially substantive nouns), English distinction between countable/uncountable seems mostly reasonable cross-linguistically. But for some nouns (above all abstract nouns), the distinction cannot be logically understood to non-native English speakers. I think we should take this kind of distinction as a matter belonging to the realm of linguistic habit particular to English rather than to the realm of universally available reasons. Countableness for some nouns is different even between similar European languages. For example, "information" is deemed as uncountable in English but it is countable in French and German. So I think we had better learn English's countableness of nouns without asking why it is so. (BBC grammar QA).

Nevertheless, I'd like to add about your question what I feel personally. I think English people someway has a tendency to take a thing as countable in the case they could feel there would be things similar to that thing. For example, let me take the case of "knowledge". When you say "knowledge" without adding the indefinite article "a", it means a general and indefinable amount/sort of "acquaintance with something through experience and intelligence". But when you say "He has a knowledge of biology", the noun phrase "a knowledge of biology" is interpreted to imply "a certain sort/amount of knowledge on biology such as that you can imagine other people also might have one similar to that. It is my humble opinion.

Anyway as I'm a beginner of English learning and don't know much about English, you'd better not believe me so much. Our teachers and other native speakers must give you much much better answers. Please wait until then.

paco

Re: Countable or uncountable noun

whl626 — Sat, 13 Sep 2003 12:56:23 GMT

Yeah, they are countable nouns

It depends on the situation, sometimes an abstract noun can be defined as countable if you mean different thing.

eg time

You can make it a countable noun if you refer to the particular time frame.

eg. I came in several times before and each time I saw different questions posted

Countable or uncountable noun

Olive — Sat, 13 Sep 2003 12:43:32 GMT

Example:
requirement --> requirements
qualification -- qualifications
query -- queries

Are the above nouns are countable nouns?
Can I add "s" after these nouns?

Are there any good way or dictionary which can help us to determine if a particular abstract noun is a countable or uncountable noun.