Search results for 'tag:Countable nouns tag:American English' matching tags 'Countable nouns' and 'American English'

Re: sport

Yoong Liat — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:25:58 GMT

Hi LiJ

This topic has been discussed before and I hope you will find the following helpful.

In British English 'sport' is the general term and is an uncountable noun.

For example: (1) He is not interested in sport. (2) There is too much sport on television. (3) She excels at sport.

If it refers to particular types of sport, the term 'sport/s' (a countable noun) is used.

For example: (1) Bobby's sport is tennis. (2) My favourite sports are tennis and hockey.

In American English, 'sports' is a plural noun.

For example: He likes watching sports on television.

Re: credit vs credits

Grammar Geek — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:03:30 GMT

Well... never forget that I use American English. And I've been frequently surprised by some of the differences between the various dialects. But that's how *I* would use credits as a countable noun.

Re: pudding

Yankee — Thu, 03 May 2007 11:46:19 GMT

Hi Teo

In American English, pudding is uncountable. It is usually served in a cup or a small bowl. So, if you'd like to order some while you're in the US, it would be fine to say "a cup of pudding".

You can solve the whole problem if you simply say "some pudding". The word 'some' works with both countable and uncountable nouns.

Re: sport and sports

Yoong Liat — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 21:11:36 GMT

In British English 'sport' is the general term and is an uncountable noun.

For example: (1) He is not interested in sport. (2) There is too much sport on television. (3) She excels at sport.

If it refers to particular types of sport, the term 'sport/s' (a countable noun) is used.

For example: (1) Bobby's sport is tennis. (2) My favourite sports are tennis and hockey.

In American English, 'sports' is a plural noun.

For example: He likes watching sports on television.

relative clause

Teo — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 16:00:42 GMT

C: countable nouns that are used with a or an or a number and have a plural: car, soldier

U: uncountable nouns that cannot be used with a or an or a number and have no plural: happiness, pasta

(On the inside front cover of Macmillan Essential Dictionary for Learners of American English)

I think the above grammar codes should be rewritten as the following:

C: countable nouns, which are used with a or an or a number and have a plural: car, soldier

U: uncountable nouns, which cannot be used with a or an or a number and have no plural: happiness, pasta

Am I right?

Re: Use of article "the" with places

paco2004 — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 11:31:48 GMT

Hello Anon

I'm a mere English learner from Japan and my role here is rather an asker than an answerer. But if you don't mind, I'd like you to read my ideas about your question.

I take "school" in "go to school" or "church" in "go to church" as an uncountable noun. As you suggested, "school" or "church" in such usage means the activities that would take place in any physical institutions called "schools" or "churches". On the other hand, "bank" in "go to the bank" and "store" in "go to the grocery store" are countable nouns and they are names of physically existent substances (=houses). Why are they modified with THE? I suppose it is because when these expressions were born, there existed only one bank or one grocery store in the area in which common English speakers spent their time every day. Because of this uniqueness, I suppose, saying "go to the bank or the grocery store" should have been more natural to them than saying "go to a bank or a grocery store", when they talked with people living in the same area.

"Hospital" in "be in hospital" or "go to hospital" in British English might be similar to "school" in "go to school" in that the noun means an abstract notion - receiving some medical treatment in this case. Why do you Americans say "the hospital" instead of mere "hospital"? As to this question, a linguist suggests that the use of THE in American English might have come from that the Irish people who immigrated to the United States were hyperconscious about using THE. The Irish people those days were excellent speakers of English because English proficiency was the only means with which they could escape from the Great Famine, but still THE was a thing tough for them to use correctly because their mother tongue Gaelic lacks the word equivalent to English THE. So told the linguist (click here).

Regarding your last question, the phrase "go home" originated in Old English where every nouns retained cases. There some nouns in accusative case were used often as a directional adverb. "Home" in "go home" is a relic of such usage of "home" in accusative case as an adverbial. About this, the Oxford English Dictionary tells as follows.
The accusative "home" retains its original use after a verb of motion, as in "to go or come home" (= L. ire, venire domum); but as this construction is otherwise obsolete in the language, "home" so used is treated practically as an adverb, and has developed purely adverbial uses.

paco

Re: Thank you a lot. (American English)

paco2004 — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 02:53:43 GMT

I expected you would disagree. It may be a colloquial saying. But I cannot get how to parse the phrase. "Thanks" is used as a countable noun and here in plural form and very much is an adverbial....??

paco

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.