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

Re: Is "jury"countable ?

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 12:23:40 GMT

Jury is countable. Countable nouns can be either singular or plural: jury/juries.
Countable nouns can follow a, an, or one; many, few, these, and those; also can follow a number such as one, two, three...

Example:
A jury has been appointed to judge the trial in the Crown Court.
It took three juries to reach a verdict.
Few juries like to be present in a child abuse case.

Re: holding

AlpheccaStars — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:54:39 GMT

In grammar, "an array" or "the array" are singular. "The arrays" is plural. Array is a countable noun.

That is why they use the article "an" or pronoun "one" before "array", and the article "the" before "arrays".

Certainly "group" and "herd" also mean "many", but grammatically speaking, these words are singular.

Definitions from Dictionary.com

5.    a large and impressive grouping or organization of things: He couldn't dismiss the array of facts.
6.    regular order or arrangement; series: an array of figures.
7.    a large group, number, or quantity of people or things: an impressive array of scholars; an imposing array of books.
8.    attire; dress: in fine array.
9.    an arrangement of interrelated objects or items of equipment for accomplishing a particular task: thousands of solar cells in one vast array.

Example sentences:

An impressive array (group) of scholars makes up the review panel.
The large array (arrangement) of solar cells collects sunlight for electricity.
The vast arrays (lines) of heavily armed troops compose a formidable army..
A large array (list) of examples makes an impressive argument.

Note: I think definition 9 applies best to your original quote. The molecules are interrelated (acting together) to form a blanket.

Re: Salt: uncountable noun?

CalifJim — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:59:37 GMT

There are a great many chemical compounds called salts, but I doubt you would want very many of them on your food. And I doubt that people would want to ask for that uncountable "table salt" specifically by its chemical name NaCl whenever they wanted some.

_____

All substances composed of a great number of tiny particles which flow like liquid and can be 'poured' are uncountable: salt, pepper, sugar, flour, sand, etc.

_____

On some days we are lazy, and on other days we are quite energetic, but I don't see what that has to do with salt.

Re: amount vs. number

Huevos — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:51:04 GMT

Anonymous
I think 'amount' usually goes with uncountable nouns.

Crime in this context is not uncountable, but generic. I see your choices as follows:

A substantial amount of the nation's crime is committed
A substantial number of the nation's crimes are committed

Re: words like (Information)

Mr Wordy — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:43:47 GMT

These are often called "uncountable nouns" (or "mass nouns"). For example, you can count apples -- one apple, two apples, three apples -- but you can't count "informations". There are lots and lots of them in English. Some examples are at http://learning.cl3.ust.hk/english-grammar-guide/Nouns_and_Pronouns/noncount_nouns1x.htm. A longer list is at http://simple.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Mass_nouns. A definitive "complete" list is not feasible.

Edit: Note that a number of nouns can be countable or uncountable, depending on context. To pick an example at random, the Wiktionary list includes "change", which is uncountable in "change is a good thing", but countable in "we need to make some changes".

amount vs. number

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:16:49 GMT

Hi, Why is it good to use the word 'amount' instead of "number" here? A substantial amount of the nation's crime is committed by a small number of bad actors -- I think you can count the number of crime occurances. Would you say since the word 'crime' is uncountable here, the use of 'amount' is better?I think 'amount' usually goes with uncountable nouns.

Re: There is no/not

Jadarite — Sat, 24 May 2008 22:56:22 GMT

Interesting question. I DON'T HAVE ANY absolute answers, but I HAVE SOME comments. I also HAVE NO absolute answer.

First, we can say "There isn't any/a", but we cannot say "There is no any/a". "Any/a" can be used with countable nouns, but we can't with "no" (ex. "There is no restaurants here."). Compare this with "There aren't any restaurants here." This is where these two forms meet. We have to change "is" to "are" ("There are no restaurants here" and "There aren't any restaurants here.")

To me, using "There is no" has a more concrete aspect to it ("There is no school today"). "There isn't any school today" sounds like there could be several schools, but we don't have to go to any of them today. In reality, we probably only go to one school, so even though "school" is countable it holds a quasi-noncountable quality to it.

Let's look at it the other way around. "There is no milk in the fridge". In this case, and in English books, I have only seen chapters where they try to get students to say "There isn't/aren't any".

However, in certain cases, I think "There is no" would be perfectly fine. If both people are aware of what is being talked about, like with definite articles, then "There is no" would have more relevance.

A: Can you get that milk we bought yesterday out of the fridge?
B: Ok. I am looking, but there is no milk.

If one of the speakers doesn't know, "There isn't any" would have more relevance.

A: I am thirsty, can I have something to drink?
B: Ok. There is some orange juice and apple juice in the fridge, but there isn't any milk."

In conversation though, we treat them the same with a few exceptions.

"There is no turning back" / "There isn't any turning back(???)"
"There is no place like home" / "There isn't any place like home (???)"
"There are no cats" (???) / "There aren't any cats" - If the number is zero, then you only need to state there isn't 1, and logically "There are no cats" could just convey "There aren't 2 cats or more". It doesn't preclude there being 1, even though we usually assume it's zero.
"There are no tires in the trunk" / "There aren't any tires in the trunk" - This is the same as the school example. We would only have one tire, so as the cat example isn't clear enough, "There aren't any" goes too far conveying "There isn't the spare tire we would normally find, and there isn't another one either which we would never account for".

Re: one slash...

Pter — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:09:21 GMT

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 time when I talk about software. You don't say "a piece of stuff", "a stuff package" or anything similar. "A piece of silverware" is also rare if the number of hits from Google can be considered a useful reference.

Software is uncountable, but "software updates" are countable. It's insane. A software update is part of the original and contains fewer lines of code than the complete program. A part of an uncountable noun is countable!

I just wish that someone invent a word that is countable and means "a piece of software" or change the usage of software to "[ C ] and [ U ]"!

Another thing I'd wish to do, if I had any authority over the English language, is to abolish once and for all the whole notion of having countable and uncountable nouns!

EDIT:

I believe most words ending with -ware are most often used collectively. It is rather rare to refer to a single piece of whatever-ware. Software is an exception and I have already mentioned in my previous post that the usage of the word "software" has changed (or expanded) since its inception. It was originally a vague concept and using it as as an uncountable noun WAS certainly reasonable. However, in current usage, "software" is most often used to refer to concrete items, the individual software packages. Yet, "software packages" seems to either suggest a collection of multiple software items (e.g. Microsoft Office suite) or there is some sort of "packaging".

Re: choice

vsubscr — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:25:45 GMT

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" one mean "You've got the wrong number type".

Wrong or right answers form two different answer types/classes. Clearly, we should use the definite article whenever we bear one of those classes in mind in contrast to a particular answer.

I appreciate any comments from the native speakers because I am not.

Re: Heart and Hearts

Avangi — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:38:49 GMT

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 philosophers, psychologists, and biologists.

If it's not too sensitive an issue, think about the "strategy" of "winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqui people." These are definitely abstract nouns. We're speaking of the heart and the mind of an individual person - one heart and one mind. I think that's a countable noun. If you "win over" three people, that's three hearts and three minds. It's still abstract.

The heart of the American people is singular, and very abstract, and surely has a different meaning than "winning the heart of my girlfriend." Is it uncountable? Personally, I don't think so. "One" is a number. It's possible to "win the heart of the American people."

Do you have a reference saying that abstract nouns are uncountable? I don't think "intangible" = "uncountable." Ideas are intangible. I came up with four new ideas today. I think that "abstract" and "concrete" are both members of the common noun classification. Asphalt and concrete are examples of uncountable nouns.

Regards, - A.