By Countable nouns, Numbers

Re: one slash...

Thanks Kooyeen. I know it is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG to use "software" as a countable noun. We can certainly find a lot of reasons why "software" should be uncountable. However, I just hate I have to say "a piece of software" or a "software package" every...

Re: choice

There is a rule in English saying that you should use the definite article with countable nouns whenever you refer not to particular objects but rather to the whole class or type. Does it really apply here with right/wrong answers or numbers? By saying "You've got the wrong number"...

Re: Heart and Hearts

To the extent that you can hold a heart in your hand, it differs from the mind and the soul (assuming that mind does not equal brain). So you wish to talk about "heart" in the abstract. The soul seems to be an intangible concept by definition. The mind means different things to...

Re: number as adjective or sort of determiner

Thank you, CB. I might have been confused since I was trying to digest too much information in a too short period of time. (That does sound lame, doesn't it?) Why is the definite article seems correct to be placed here but an indefinite article doesn't seem to correct to be placed there?...

Re: many / much + comparative + plural nouns

Use "many more" for a countable noun like that. There are a significantly larger number of girls in this class.

Re: Please help me with my writing

are /doing I hope this helps. I think Maths are used only in plural.

Please help me with my writing

I agree that people should sometimes do things they do not enjoy doing because they are the basis of life. Doing things we do not enjoy at the time may turn out to be fun later. Moreover, those things can be requirements that we have to meet in life. No one like to do the...

Re: some/a few; regarding/regarding to

Anonymous wrote: What is different between "some" and "a few" when referring to countable nouns? Nothing. Both mean "a small number of", although only "few" = "small" by definition. (some can be used for both countable & uncountable - I guess you knew that!)e.g. I have stopped...

Re: Noun followed by noun, plural issue

Hi Explor1ing, I'm confused too. Which of the two nouns needs to be plural? Both? The meaning of the sentence is unclear. How do you make a category? Are you cataloguing books? Setting up a new system? If you wanted to say, "How many book categories are there?" then "book" is acting like...

Re: Why this way?

Thank you, Avangi. So I think what you seem to alluding to me is that native speakers like you (I am sure you are one of them) seem to divide a noun into categories based on practical usage -- the usage that serves a practical purpose in an environment where English is spoken naturally --...