Search results for 'tag:Prepositions tag:Countable or uncountable' matching tags 'Prepositions' and 'Countable or uncountable'

Re: subject verb agreement ^^

Avangi — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:46:43 GMT

they bring         news is

laptops are       she brings

laptops are        they bring

There's an "understood" which she brings. This relative clause takes the pronoun out of contention for subject of the sentence, since it is instead subject of "brings" in the clause. The clause modifies "news."

shorts are

pair is    (one pair)

pairs are      What do you mean by "one noun"?   In "pair of shorts," "shorts" is object of the preposition, and not part of the simple subject. The prepositional phrase then modifies "pair."

music and writing are          her talent lies     OR her talents lie   (talent may be countable or uncountable)

no effort!

Once you identify the verb, think a little bit about what the subject really is   -   what/who is performing that exact action, etc.

Edit. Kooyeen's "music and writing is" raises a thorny problem. I'm not sure of the solution.

Where did you do your undergraduate work? (reply) Harvard and Yale. / I did it at Harvard and Yale. / Harvard and Yale is /are where I did my undergraduate work.

Re: evening (without preposition) / to start to doing

Cool Breeze — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 09:04:03 GMT

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 with both countable and non-countable nouns. Wouldn't this strange sentence be more like

Humidity of a hot day ...,

which is equally difficult to explain, isn't it? Or is it? Do you sense that the is required as much here as with evening taken as a non-countable?

Mea culpa. I'm sorry, yes, I didn't express myself very clearly. The logic has nothing to do with using a or an even though the use or omission of the depends on evening or laughter being countable or uncountable. As I said before, it is possible to hear just part of the laughter or some laughter in your example sentence because laughter is uncountable. That fact, to me anyway, seems to justify the omission of the article and your sentence sounds very natural and good to me.

Evening of a hot day sounds a little odd to my ear because evening is normally countable. I know this may not make any sense to other people and I don't think I have ever seen this in any grammar books and I certainly don't want to impose my reasoning and logic - or lack of it - on outsiders. It's just the way I feel about the whole thing and as long as I have got Steinbeck's phrase in the right pigeon hole in the language compartment of my brain, I am satisfied.

Let's have one , I'm thirsty!

CB
EDIT: Your "humidity" example seems indeed very similar to me. Humidity is listed as uncountable in dictionaries.

Re: Mission, countable or uncountable

Clive — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 23:34:58 GMT

Hi,

Please tell me whether the word 'mission' is countable or uncountable? Countable

It might be my imagination but I see some words that seem to be strictly countable being written without the articles when followed with the word (preposition??) 'as', is it just my imagination?

He was elected as president of the company. 'President' here is used as a title, aand in this context of 'the company', there is only one president. Compare He was offered a job as a secretary.

Would you like to list some other examples of what you sometimes see?

Would you say the normal article usage rules apply no matter if a noun follows the preposition 'as' or not? I'd prefer not to generalize. See the above examples.

Best wishes, Clive

Mission, countable or uncountable

Believer — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 23:29:03 GMT

Hi,

Please tell me whether the word 'mission' is countable or uncountable?

as mission

as Christian mission

as a mission to help others in need

It might be my imagination but I see some words that seem to be strictly countable being written without the articles when followed with the word (preposition??) 'as', is it just my imagination?

Would you say the normal article usage rules apply no matter if a noun follows the preposition 'as' or not?