Search results for 'tag:Countable nouns tag:Tenses' matching tags 'Countable nouns' and 'Tenses'

check sentences please

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:48:16 GMT

Hi,

1. We are going to hold/have discussio (or - a discussion?) on this matter now. -- I konw that a certain word trigger a need for a countable or a uncountable noun. Is this one of those cases?

2. Can you be able to take care of this?

3. I hope you would be able to take of this right away. -- what comes after 'hope' is normally a present or fututre tense?

4. Can you fix this handle of the door (or - handle to the door?)? - when is 'handle to the door' is good and when is "handle of the door" is good?
He went in by the main door of (to??) the house.

Re: Paragraph Suggestions

Mister Micawber — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:10:14 GMT

Its versatility assists me adeptly in studies.-- The computer assists, not the versatility; 'adept' is for people.

And wrought mean shaped, so why its wrong here ? -- It is the wrong tense.

connected is wrong word? -- The verb should be passive in aspect.

wavy mean twisted cables , thats not sutibale as well? -- 'Wavy' is for hair; it is a pleasant image, unlike 'twisted'.

central is lined because i used capital C? -- 'Unit' is a singular countable noun, and the sentence is a comma splice (you need a conjunction).

shelf of the table please do explain why its wrong as well. -- Tables don't normally have shelves; desks may. Also, objects would have to go on a shelf, not at it.

When a present participle is not one

Avangi — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:59:09 GMT

Hi,

Something seems amiss in the category structure. My understanding used to be that the dictionary entry for a verb begins with the (bare) infinitive, and is typically followed by the present and past participles, and then the present 3rd person singular, or something like that. I always thought of these as building blocks in the formation of different tenses and other forms.

I have no problem calling the present participle a gerund when it serves as a noun, although I formerly thought "gerund" had a much broader definition. But why does it have to stop being the present participle? The infinitive is still the infinitive, regardless of which of several uses it's put to.

If they insist on doing this, why don't they come up with a correspondingly neat name for the present participle when it serves as an adjective?

It seems very strange indeed to say that the present participle cannot serve as the subject of a sentence, when I can see it doing so with my own eyes.

Can anyone justify this unbalanced treatment?? I've been hoping for an epiphany for several months now, and I'm about to give up. To me, it's like saying that an uncountable noun is not singular because "singular" has to do with countables. (This position recently held in a thread)

present participle as noun = (gerund)
present participle as adjective = (??????)

Best wishes, - A.

Re: NOUN

Believer — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:55:17 GMT

Thank you, Avangi.

In my previous post, I should have used third-person verb tenses, 'sounds' and 'gives' -- proper subject-verb agreement wasn't made due to my carelessness.

Going back to your request for examples of cases where I would feel something in quotes could not be used with an indefinite article becauss of its semantic meaning, I would have say that I can't think of any at this point in time.

Do you think anything in quotes is good a candidate as a typical (known-to-be??) uncountable noun?

Thank you.

Re: tense possibility with differring context

Clive — Tue, 06 May 2008 04:34:22 GMT

Hi,

1. Are these all possible depend on what you want to say? With their tensical implications? Yes, all possible.

Jake hit him first, with a long soft sponge he 1) was/2) had used/3) had been using to wash dishes.

2. Sorry, when we use the phrase 'a piece of', can we use that with a countable noun? Can we attach an article? Yes, we can.

a piece of a ruler or a piece of ruler??

a piece of a sponge or a piece of sponge??

Best wishes, Clive

tense possibility with differring context

Anonymous — Tue, 06 May 2008 04:04:57 GMT

Hi, I have two questons.

1. Are these all possible depend on what you want to say? With their tensical implications?

Jake hit him first, with a long soft sponge he 1) was/2) had used/3) had been using to wash dishes.

To me, no. 2 and 3 set the events one before the other and no. 3 adding the factor of the continuance.

2. Sorry, when we use the phrase 'a piece of', can we use that with a countable noun? Can we attach an article?

a piece of a ruler or a piece of ruler??

a piece of a sponge or a piece of sponge??

Re: have a superpower

misus — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:16:03 GMT

HI Mister Micawber

Why don't we use "a"??

I think we can use "a" in this sentense because superpower is countable noun.

Mistakes made by Chinese Learners

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:30:26 GMT

Hi everyone

I just wondered if anyone could help - I have to write a profile of a chinese learner of English (completely made up). In it I must put any difficulties that the learner has in learning English as an L2. I have got so far:

Intonation transfer from L1 may cause them to be perceived as rude/inconsiderate, more serious transfer may affect comprehensiveness.
No inflections in L1 - tenses difficult to learn in L2 as L1 has no true tenses and concept of time is expressed by adverbs/implicit or contextual assumptions.
Difficulty distinguishing [r] & - Does anyone know why this is as I can't find a reason?!!
Prepositions such as 'on', 'in' & 'at' have one chinese translation in many contexts, 'zai' - may be confused resulting in phrases such as 'on Taiwan' instead of 'in Taiwan'.
Use of awkward gerunds e.g. 'no noising', excessive use of verbs ending in 'ing' e.g. 'do not climbing', confusion of 'ed' & 'ing' verbs e.g. 'i am bored' vs 'i am boring' --- all of these errors occur because verbs are not conjugated in chinese, for tense or pronoun.
No equivalent word for 'the' so may be used excessively when not needed e.g. 'The China' or missed out when needed. May also be confused with 'a'/'an'.
Confusion over countable and uncountable nouns, use of 'how much?' vs 'how many?' - leads to phrases such as 'I want a soup' & 'a lot of shoe'. This is due to there not being plurals in chinese - no inflections.

Switching between 'he' & 'she' - Does anyone know why this is?

If anyone can think of anymore it would be greatly appreciated or if anyone knows the answers to my questions about gender switching and distinguishing [r] & this would also help a lot!!

Thank you in advance.

Shannon

Re: tense-hadn't

Yankee — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 19:50:35 GMT

Newguest wrote:
HI
HI !

IS IT REALLY A BIG MISTAKE TO PUT A COMMA AFTER "ALI?" It is a little mistake.

WHY CAN'T WE SAY "A BAD LUCK" The word 'luck' is uncountable. You cannot use 'a' with an uncountable noun. You can say something such as 'a bit of bad luck' or 'some bad luck', however.

I WROTE "TODAY" AT THE END OF THE SENTENCE CAUSE, BUT MAYBE I'M WRONG, HE'S STILL ALIVE, THAT'S WHY I WROTE "HE WOULD SUFFER"

I KNOW THERE IS SOMETHING LIKE MIXED CONDITIONALS. I WROTE "HE HADN'T BEEN A BOXER" BECAUSE HE'S NOT ONE ANY MORE, That doesn't change the fact that you have begun a Type III conditional. The unchangeable fact is that he was a boxer and therefore the condition ("wasn't/hadn't been a boxer") is impossible to fulfil -- whether or not he is still a boxer is basically irrelevant. AND "HE WOULD SUFFER" CAUSE HE'S STILL ALIVE. As I see it, the problem with "would suffer" in your sentence is that, even with the word 'today' added, it could be interpretted as a reference to only now and the future.

THANKS

By the way, typing in all CAPITAL letters is known as "shouting" and is often seen as UNFRIENDLY.

shared or discrete

Believer — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 08:53:14 GMT

Hi,

Sometimes I see phrasal cases where adjectives in front of a noun seem to warrant it to be plural but ends up being the case of shared adjectives. Is this one? Can you help me to clearly distinguish similar situations?

both singular and plural tense -- When should 'tense' be 'tenses'?

both countable and uncountable noun -- Can it be used to note a variable noun? Can it create confusion in the mind of someone who unfortunately is not in grasp of the notion of a variable noun (by having the singular word 'noun' rather than the plural word 'nouns'?