Search results for 'tag:Articles tag:Abstract nouns' matching tags 'Articles' and 'Abstract nouns'

Re: Is "truth" abstract noun or not? why?

Cool Breeze — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:09:49 GMT

Welcome to EF, mariappan

Truth is always an abstrcat noun because you can't put it on the scales and weigh it. It may occasionally be countable, which has nothing to do with being abstract. I may be wrong but I think it's the article (the) that you are concerned with? The article is used in the phrase to tell/speak the truth because normally there is only one truth. It's an idiom, one could say.

Re: Article for History

New2grammar — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:31:51 GMT

Musicgold
I do know that âhistoryâ alone takes an article,

I agree with Avangi's interpretation. Just my two cents. Your above statement is not always correct. History can be an abstract noun for example

This is the first time in history the province is hit by such a strong earthquake. (No article)

In the history of our company, we have never laid off a single employee but today, unfortunately, we have to downsize to get through the recession. (need a definite article)

Re: creams and detergents

Goodman — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:19:09 GMT

Mr. Miclawer,

I wasnât going to expand this pluralization discussion on âcreamsâ and âwinesâ.
But it really bothered the heck out of me for two reasons.
1) I really wanted to find out if I was really blowing hot air on this subject
because of my misunderstanding of this topic, and 2) if there is another side of the usage
I am not aware of.
This is perhaps not relevant to the discussion but to establish my point, I think it needs
to be said. Mrs. Milton whom I learned English from was an excellent English teacher who
also had taught for 5 years at the Beijing University, which is a top University in China, by
invitation of the Government. Many of her students had landed positions working for the
Chinese Government and the U.N. as translators and interpreters. I was very blessed to be
among her students. Most of my English foundation was learned from her. And I was really
surprised to see your examples pluralizing âcreamâ and âwineâ. By your earlier examples, which I
compared with the information found on the WEB, I must ask this question. Am I to understand
that itâs completely grammatical to say in a restaurant âmay I have 2 waters and soups?â. I know
we hear that all the time but if we are discussing the whether a particular usage is grammatically
correct, running into this type of scenario is inevitable. Here are some âsupportsâ you had
asked for which may not may not be validated to your satisfaction. No doubt, you are the
English authority and perhaps possess âsuperiorityâ over many frequented this forum and I donât
mean to sound like challenging your examples, let alone to waste anymore of your time.
Nonetheless, as a serious learner, Iâd owe the real answers to myself and the learners if I just
accepted your answers as given. I may be wrong with my search result and you are correct.
And If so, here is my âadvanced apologyâ.

Nouns only countable nouns can be either singular or plural. ... He had some ice cream on
his face. He had an ice cream. mass. countable ...
www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/tta/wc/nouns.htm - 21k - Cached - Similar pages

http://ajaja.paradoxinc.org/Basic/Grammar/CountAndNoncount.ht

Liquids: beer, milk, coffee, blood, cream, juice, honey, gasoline, oil, shampoo, soup, tea, water, wine.

Solids and semi-solids: Bread, butter, cheese, ice, ice cream, lettuce, toast, meat, beef, chicken, fish, ham, lamb, pork, chalk, 
copper, cotton, glass, gold, iron, , soap, tin, toothpaste, wood, wool,

http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/grammar/countnon.html

A Revision of the RulesThe exceptions require that the rule for pluralizing be revised: count nouns and nouns used 
in a count sense can be pluralized; noncount nouns and nouns used in a noncount sense cannot.

	Pluralizes with -s	Does not Pluralize
Count Noun	X
Count Use	X
Noncount Noun		X
Noncount Use		X

http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080425090142AAom2ui

Answers (4)

If coffee is an uncountable noun, cream certainly is by common sense. Thus the rule applies.

Â· Answerer 1

Many nouns can be used as countables or uncountables. It depends on whether you are thinking of a substance or
a single serving or object made of the substance. So:

Beer is fattening (uncountable - the substance)
Don't drink more than three beers a day. (Countable - servings)

I love chocolate (uncountable - the substance)
Get me a box of chocolates (countable - individual pieces)

A vase made of blown glass (uncountable - the substance)
A glass of wine (A single piece / artifact)

Coffee gives me indigestion (the substance - uncountable)
I need at least three coffees to wake up on a morning (countable - individual servings)

2 months ago

http://www3.law.cuny.edu/wc/students/multilingual/articles.html

Uncountable nouns often refer to drinks and food, other general substances, or concepts (meat, tea, steel, information, justice):

Examples of Uncountable Nouns in English:

Food and Drink: bacon, beef, beer, bread, butter, cabbage, candy, cauliflower, chicken, chocolate, coffee, corn,
cream, fish, fruit, juice, lettuce, meat, milk, oil, pasta, rice, salt, spinach, sugar, tea, water, whiskey, wine, yogurt.
General Substances: air,cement, clay, coal, copper, dirt, dust, foam, gasoline, gold, ice, leather, paper, petroleum,
plastic, rain, rubber, silver, soap, steel, wood, wool.
Abstract nouns: abandonment, access, adultery, advice, alimony, anger, anguish, arson, authentication, beauty, capacity,
conduct, confidence, courage, deprivation, desperation, discretion, employment, empowerment, evidence, extortion, fortune,
fun, happiness, health, honesty, housing, information, insurance, intelligence, intent, knowledge, land, love, malice, negligence,
poverty, privacy, real estate, sadness, satisfaction, strength, truth, wealth.
Others: biology, clothing, darkness, equipment, furniture, gossip, homework, jewelry, luggage, machinery, mail, money, music,
news, poetry, pollution, research, scenery, traffic, transportation, violence, weather, weight, work.

Some uncountable nouns (except for concepts) can be turned into countable nouns by preposing a phrase to them
(two bottles of wine, a bar of soap, a piece of information, an act of violence, a burst of anger, a piece of evidence).

e.g. The defendant's lawyer is sure the judge will accept new evidence in this case.

vs. The defendant's lawyer is sure the judge will accept three new pieces of evidence in this case.

Some uncountable nouns can be used in the plural, but their meaning changes:

experience / experiences: e.g., He had to rely on experience / I lived unforgettable experiences

Re: the Lohan

Tom — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:48:41 GMT

What was referred to in an earlier reply is an American style of speech, which, to be honest, seems to have been started by the t,v show friends, and has spread widely. e.g 'The Hoff' to describe the guy from Bay Watch, or 'How's the Ross today?' - using a person's name as though it were an abstract noun therefore denoting a universal concept believed to be assigned to or exemplified by a particular person - (it's actually a very clever use of speech as it disobeys the rule of not using the definite article with abstract nouns and therefore jars - causing attention, but it also serves to highlight the concepts personified... very clever) In standard English (pre the afforementioned use) 'Lohan' in this context would have to be some sort of description - eg, the 21 year old carpenter, the 21 year old debutante, the 21 year old starlet. the writer may just have got a little confused with it, and used the definite article rather than just writing '21 year old Lohan' or may have been about to write 'the 21 year old actress, Lohan', and it was printed with an error. i don't believe this was the 'friends-style' use of the definite article, as it doesn't serve the structure's cultural purpose. Also maybe they meant to drop the word 'Lohan' but didn't and it was printed anyway... I think this really might just be a mistake.

Re: evening (without preposition) / to start to doing

Hoa Thai — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:44:34 GMT

Hi,

I understand Espeland's question regarding the phrase 'of a hot day' that specifically restricts the meaning of Evening since there is only one evening in a day; thus, The must be provided such as "The Evening of a Day of Walking" in Les Miserables - by Victor Hugo.

In fact, I have seen quite a few passages using similar pattern (i.e., abstract noun with article a, an, and the starting a sentence). However, some titles of plays or movies and a few novels that I have read do drop the articles. Therefore, as CalifJim stated (if I read him right), to start a sentence, the article for an abstract noun is optional. In that case, what sounds good to readers' ears would count else words will be ignored.

Best Regards,
Hoa Thai

Re: evening (without preposition) / to start to doing

Espeland — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:26:31 GMT

Ok, I think I have to just accept that it is how it is...to me, leaving out the article was so astonishing here because in "evening of a hot day", the evening is defined. And obviously this phenomenon occurs more frequently when the abstract noun is subject or at the beginning of the sentence. Personally, I usually make a difference in meaning between the sentences "I feel the sunshine" (I know which kind of sunshine, or where it comes from) and "I feel sunshine" (I cannot say anything about it, I just feel it, but I may not be able to tell more about it).

But thank you all in any case very much for your responses.

Re: evening (without preposition) / to start to doing

CalifJim — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:14:00 GMT

It doesn't work to omit the article with big tower because tower is a concrete noun.
It works to omit the with evening because evening is an abstract noun. (You can't actually touch an evening as if it were an object.)

Abstract nouns in English very frequently appear without an article, especially as the subjects of sentences.

Faith is a virtue.
Sunset comes early in December.
Morning is Alice's favorite time of day.
Love makes the world go round.
Haste makes waste.
Worry can give you gray hair.
Honesty is its own reward.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Spring is Jane's favorite season.
The police restored law and order to the town.

CJ

Re: Articles (a, an)

Hoa Thai — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:05:17 GMT

Dear Yankee,

Since you searched for 'an advice', the hit count is different. Google "advices" and you should find ~6,000,000 hits. The point that I have been trying to make is the countable/uncountable nature of an abstract noun. So not only the use of articles but also pluralization would be involved.

Please also go to this web-page: http://www.rdrop.com/~half/Creations/Writings/GoodAdvices/GoodAdvices.html to find out even literated English native speakers would pluralize the word (i.e., he or she must have believed it is countable). But then again, the author of that page maybe a non-native English speaking person.

Your input brings up another issue - how do you know for sure that an incorrect usage is from a non-native speaker of English? Could you share your observation to help us improve our search? (To not muddle the involved issue, let us first agree that a native speaker is a person who is born and grows up in an English speaking country. So one cannot assume a foreign name or web-site's location would give a clue - for example name of a Chinese American / Britain).

Best,
Hoa Thai

Re: Articles (a, an)

Clive — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:27:57 GMT

Hi again,

If some uncountable abstract nouns can become countable depending on context and some cannot (i.e., forever stay uncountable), then what is the trick or the rule of thumb that I can use to separate them ? I'm inclined to think there is no such trick. That's why learning a language is not a simple task.

If Google hits certainly contain errors; then what sources can we, ESL learners, rely on ? I strongly recommend reading as widely and as much as you can. You also need to check the source of what you read, eg a recognized author who has had some success, a well-known newspaper or magazine. The internet is full of errors and unreliable sources, eg there are legions of blogs by people with terrible English alongside other sources that are excellent and reliable.

If I may ask you directly, what have you done to know for sure that a word is an abstract noun - and it is uncountable in some instances, while in other instances it is countable? I would appreciate if you can walk me through the steps. I don't have a good answer for that. I know the things I know because I have always read a lot. Thanks in advance.

By the way, I looked into New World Dictionary of The American Language, College Edition and found this: advice n. 1. opinion given as to what to do or how to handle a situation; counsel - 2. [usually plural] information or report [diplomatic advices] ! So advice can take a plural form and advice is opinion, but advice is uncountable while opinion is countable (Yoong Liat said so earlier). Definition 2 sounds very odd to me. Perhaps it is trying to speak of what I mentioned earlier as confirmation of a completed transaction. I don't know.

"The more you know, the more you know you don't know." Yes, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's better than thinking that you know everything.

I don't mean to sap your confidence or make you uneasy. If you say 'Thank you for the good advices', it is not really a huge error. People will understand your meaning and will certainly not judge you harshly. So, my advice is to relax and to be patient about these matters.

If you have any more questions, on this or any other topic, please post them and we'll try to help.

Clive

Re: Articles (a, an)

Hoa Thai — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:00:50 GMT

Hello Clive,

Thank you for your input. However, I now feel uneasy.

If some uncountable abstract nouns can become countable depending on context and some cannot (i.e., forever stay uncountable), then what is the trick or the rule of thumb that I can use to separate them ?
If Google hits certainly contain errors; then what sources can we, ESL learners, rely on ?

If I may ask you directly, what have you done to know for sure that a word is an abstract noun - and it is uncountable in some instances, while in other instances it is countable? I would appreciate if you can walk me through the steps. Thanks in advance.

By the way, I looked into New World Dictionary of The American Language, College Edition and found this: advice n. 1. opinion given as to what to do or how to handle a situation; counsel - 2. [usually plural] information or report [diplomatic advices] ! So advice can take a plural form and advice is opinion, but advice is uncountable while opinion is countable (Yoong Liat said so earlier).

"The more you know, the more you know you don't know."

CIAO,
Hoa Thai

Search results for 'tag:Articles tag:Abstract nouns' matching tags 'Articles' and 'Abstract nouns'

Re: Is "truth" abstract noun or not? why?

Re: Article for History

Re: creams and detergents

Mr. Miclawer,

Nouns only countable nouns can be either singular or plural. ... He had some ice cream on his face. He had an ice cream. mass. countable ...www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/tta/wc/nouns.htm - 21k - Cached - Similar pages

http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080425090142AAom2ui

Answers (4)

Re: the Lohan

Re: evening (without preposition) / to start to doing

Re: evening (without preposition) / to start to doing

Re: evening (without preposition) / to start to doing

Re: Articles (a, an)

Re: Articles (a, an)

Re: Articles (a, an)

Nouns only countable nouns can be either singular or plural. ... He had some ice cream on
his face. He had an ice cream. mass. countable ...
www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/tta/wc/nouns.htm - 21k - Cached - Similar pages