Search results for 'tag:Nouns tag:Uncountable nouns' matching tags 'Nouns' and 'Uncountable nouns'

Re: gerund or verbal noun with an article?

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:18:50 GMT

Thank you.

I think it would be OK to speak of a pen that he found which belonged to his friend, Joe, like this:

I found a (one) pencil of a student. -- If the situation is that only studnents use pen (unbelievable as it sounds) and he don't know whose pen it is.
I found the pencil of a student. -- If the pen is prior-mentioned or if a student in wherever he is used only one pen, not two pencils ever.

I think your corrected version sounds right but I can't dispel the notion that my versions might be correct too under a right circumstance. I think we are making an instance of the uncountable noun "wailing" and that "instance" notion might get fuzzy if the definite article "the" is used in my opinion (I could be wrong). It seems to be different from something like "He heard the shouting by a skinny young man yesterday evening." Confused.

He heard a fearful wailing of a dog,
or,
He heard a fearful wailing of the dog of the next-door neighbor

gerund or verbal noun with an article?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:13:38 GMT

Hi,

I think I found out the word 'wailing' is an uncountable noun.
If that is so, then is this correct?

A feartul wailing was heard.

He heard a fearful wailing.

I would be more comfortable if I saw something like this:

He heard a fearful wailing of a dog,
or,
He heard a fearful wailing of the dog of the next-door neighbor.

Re: doing gardening

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:49:18 GMT

Hi,

Hypothetical Situation: If some people were having a show in front of those people who have been marooned in an island for their younger years and have been rescued subsequently. What if they had to showcase some of things they do in their houses, like gardening, fixing the sink, etc. Could they say like this?

OK, we are going to perform gardening for you.
OK, we are going to perform gardening our favorite lawns for you.

I think the 'gardening' is an uncountable noun and that seems to be good as a noun; but 'gardening our favorite lawns' seems to be good also since as far as I know, participle phrases, both past and present, function as a noun. I am writing this since I seem to have seen a lot cases where this type of participle phrases being used in a noun position. I don't see anything wrong structually, but it seems better to write like this:

OK, we are going to perform the action of gardening our favorite lawns for you.

Does this look OK?
OK, we are going to perform fixing a faucet for you.

Come to think of it, I think it would be correct to write it like this:
OK, we are going to perform the action of fixing a faucet for you.

Re: Article usage: proper noun and uncountable noun correspondence?

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:02:07 GMT

Thank you. What threw me off was the non-capitalization of the first letter of the word 'cemetery'. A common word plus non-capitalization could make it necessary to have an article, at least for the sake of the common noun, at least to me. Can you tell me what the reason for that possibly be?

... paying respects at Babaoshan cemetery in Beijing ...

Re: Article usage: proper noun and uncountable noun correspondence?

Cool Breeze — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 08:57:58 GMT

1. It may be unwise to say that something can be done to all proper nouns in English because there seem to be so many exceptions to every rule. However, using a and the with proper nouns in certain contexts is normal. The of-genitive - or of structure - or whatever you prefer to call it often requires the:

the England of my dreams

An adjectival attribute is a common reason for a:

We saw a sad George Bush on television last night.

He wants to live in a different England.

2. The names of cemeteries are not listed in grammar books as requiring the. Moreover, it is normal that if a name is made up of a proper noun plus a common noun, no article is used:

Gatwick Airport, Oslo University, London Bridge, Westminster Abbey

Article usage: proper noun and uncountable noun correspondence?

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 07:11:37 GMT

Hi,

1. I seem to sense a correspondence between a proper noun and uncountable noun in terms of their ability to accompany English articles. Is it unfounded or baseless?

Case in point: name of a street which normally doesn't have an article in front of it:

..., a pastor of the influential Park Street Church at the edge of the Boston Common, ...

I think one can substitute in the part interested a last name to make something like this:

... the influential Smith has decided to enter the race.

Could a person do this to all proper nouns?

2. Why isn't there any article in front of this?

... paying respects at Babaoshan cemetery in Beijing ...

Re: "all-hyphenated" noun

Clive — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 04:58:17 GMT

Hi,

How would you justify the use of hyphens to denote what seems to be a noun? I wouldn't try to justify it. At best, it's extremely casual, and at worst it's just lazy and unstructured English.

I think this string of words can be thought as a big noun made of little parts.

Could it be in quotations without hyphens and would it make a difference or no difference? It would make it more acceptable and common.

I think a problem might result if put quotation marks around it is that "way" is a noun.Why do you think that? What problem?

Then again, putting quotation marks makes it kind of an uncountable noun and I think we don't need to think about articles unless we are thinking of making it a type or an instance of it.

I think certain words like "am" or "so" are not hyphenated when used as part of a hyphenated noun or a hyphenated adjective. Why is that? I'm not sure what you mean. Can you give some sentences that include the kind of thing you are talking about?

... can dodge the big issue by settling into the cocoon of just-living-my-life-and-doing-what-I-can-in-my-own-little-way.

Could this be this? Yes >>>>>... can dodge the big issue by settling into the cocoon of "just living my life and doing what I can in my own little way."

Is there some reason that you can't just omit the quotation marks altogether?

Best wishes, Clive

"all-hyphenated" noun

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:01:11 GMT

Hi,
How would you justify the use of hyphens to denote what seems to be a noun? I think this string of words can be thought as a big noun made of little parts.

Could it be in quotations without hyphens and would it make a difference or no difference? I think a problem might result if put quotation marks around it is that "way" is a noun.

Then again, putting quotation marks makes it kind of an uncountable noun and I think we don't need to think about articles unless we are thinking of making it a type or an instance of it.

I think certain words like "am" or "so" are not hyphenated when used as part of a hyphenated noun or a hyphenated adjective. Why is that?

... can dodge the big issue by settling into the cocoon of just-living-my-life-and-doing-what-I-can-in-my-own-little-way.

Could this be this?

... can dodge the big issue by settling into the cocoon of "just living my life and doing what I can in my own little way."

Re: article

CalifJim — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:51:53 GMT

Cool Breeze
However, what you have made a mistake with in my humble opinion is that the indefinite article isn't used with uncountable nouns. The defintite article (the) can be used with all nouns.

Yes, yes, yes. I know that. Maybe I used the wrong words to express what I was trying to say. Maybe I should have said it as follows:

Only an uncountable noun can be used without an article (if it's singular).

The formulation in sea uses no article.

Therefore it treats sea as uncountable.

But I know for a fact that, on the contrary, sea is countable.

Therefore, in sea is wrong (because it contains a countable singular noun being used without an article).

_____

The argument, I'll admit, doesn't specify which article (a or the) will fix what's wrong.

Does this explanation make it clearer what I was getting at?

(Thanks for responding. Sorry about the e-mail problem.

There should be a list on the right with your latest discussions, by the way. Maybe that will help. )

Re: article

Cool Breeze — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:01:22 GMT

CalifJim
I welcome your further comments.

I don't get e-mail notifications from most of my posts on this forum but I saw your response as I was browsing what is going on at the moment. Please forgive me if I don't always respond to your questions. My e-mails have worked haphazardly after the face-lift in February.

I don't object to calling at sea idiomatic as well. Actually I agree with you. It's just that the is very often used with sea. Maybe it isn't a good idea to call in the sea idiomatic, though. However, what you have made a mistake with in my humble opinion is that the indefinite article isn't used with uncountable nouns. The defintite article (the) can be used with all nouns. Some examples:

The water in my glass is warm.

I read a book about the London of the 15th century.

But we do not of course say: There is a water in my glass.