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.

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countable or uncountable? That is the question...