By Grammar, Countable or uncountable

Grammar Geek wrote: Well, wait, let's not answer too quickly. Certainly you can say "a willingness" -- IF you then qualify it with what type of willingness. A willingness to succeed A willingness to provide the necessary funds etc. However, you can't just say "He showed a willingness"...

CalifJim wrote:Not sure why you added this. Yes, it is possible to say one evening or an evening when evening is countable, but if we recognize that in the subject sentence evening is non-countable, and the problem is the, not a or one, I don't see where the logic is going. the is possible...

Grammar Geek wrote:I suggest: Are there any difference? Hi Double G,is that a typo? I'd say one of these:Are there any differences? ("difference" is a countable noun, plural becomes "differences")Is there any difference? ("difference" is an uncountable noun, it is treated as singular)They...

It's not a question of grammar, that is, not a question of syntax. It's a question of semantics, that is, a question of meaning. If you refer to an object or objects, it's countable. If you refer to the substance, it's not countable. I wrote several papers for a course in art history. ...

Hi, I googled and got these results. without doubt 8.58 million without a doubt 16.1 million without any doubt 0.95 million So, I guess including 'a' is the most common form of the phrase, but a lot of people exclude it, too. I suppose that if you want to find a grammar rule, it depends on...

Hello Infinity. I'm a mere English learner from Japan, but could you allow me to throw my 2 cents on your question? Frankly speaking, I'd say you'd better give up the hope you could get a conclusive answer to the question. I have raised a similar question before in this forum but I could not...

For instance, "I don't have time to do this." Here, the noun "time" is uncountable. "I had a great time." In this case, is the noun in the noun phrase "a great time" countable? IS there any systematic way to explain the concept behind this? According to several grammar books I looked into,...

Basically, 'variablity' can be considered either countable or uncountable-- thought of either as a parameter or as a quality-- so either is acceptable.

Hi Eager, I have run through and fixed the grammar, but have not had time to consider your analysis, sorry: There are several linguistic resources that help people express genericness. Below, can be observed several forms that can also express something different than genericness. In the...

There are several linguistic resources that help people express genericity(??, what's genercity?). Down below, it can be observed several forms that can also express something different than genericity(?)--awkward sentence. In the first pair of sentences one find two degrees of genericity...