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

Re: "any"-defining

Fandorin — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:18:36 GMT

Kooyeen

You can do that too, but it is not common, it's only used sometimes for emphasis. It's easy to build odd sentences that way, so I personally prefer to avoid using it that way, as a learner. When talking about one thing, using the article "a" (or "an") is the common way to say it...
Do you have a sister? Is there a hospital near here? I don't have a sister, you must be mistaking me for someone else...

I didn't consider uncountable nouns because they are not usually used in the plural, so they weren't part of our problem. I didn't consider idioms or exceptions either... I can think of a couple of them right now:
Is there any reason why you are not allowed to do that?
There isn't any way to find out the truth, I'm afraid.

The singular seems to be the idiomatic choice in those cases.

Yes, it's odd way not to use "a". Indeed, "any=some" implies itself plural noun to be used. So the difference in translation some of constructions in English seems to be slightly smoothed between two meanings you mentioned above. At least it's so in my language.

having something uncountable

Believer — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 08:43:25 GMT

Hi,

I have difficulty clearly seeing the correctness of sentential constructions that have an uncountable noun with the verb 'have' before it.

I have happiness. -- This doesn't seem to be correctly written.

But, if we apply the same uncountable noun but with a different semantic meaning, it seems to be correctly written. I arrived at that conclusion since I have seen and often used this sentence.

I have heartburn/indigestion.

Should I just accept the fact some uncountable nouns, especially those that have abstract meanings, do not go well or don't not fit with a verb showing possession such as 'have'? Sorry if my question doesn't sound like it is clearly formed.

Re: How is this construction work?

Mister Micawber — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 14:03:46 GMT

Do you mean quality as an uncountable noun vs quality as a countable noun?

Re: Writing (1)

nona the brit — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 11:25:54 GMT

Ok, but it won't fix all the errors in this piece of writing.

The April's socio-economic growth has remained the same as that of the first 3 months. Industrial production had fairly high production and step by step resumed the previous growth pace.However, many problems haven't been overcome: The basic construction investment capital,especially the state credit capital, has been low, the investment demand stimulation measures haven't been done strongly so the efficiency has been limited, the consumption prices and services have decreased and will be to decrease in next few month. It was the remark of the Planning and Investment minister at this meeting.

1/Is it obligatory to write the before targets,industrial production and next few few months?Why? I can't find 'targets'. No 'the' before industrial production as it is just industry in general. 'The' next few months as they are specific months.

2/April's socio-economic growth (1)= April socio-economic growth (2) ?If not, what is wrong? Why? April's - the growth belongs to April. See my previous comment about the 'the'.

3/the previous growth pace (3) =the growth pace before (4)= the growth pace earlier? (5)If not, what is wrong? Why? The previous rate of growth is better. Pace just doesn't really work with growth.

4/Do you write efficiency or effectiveness here? Why?What is the difference in meaning btw them? See my previous comment.

5/Do remained and preserved have the same meaning and are they interchangeable?If not, what is the difference in meaning btw them? No they are not interchangeable here.

6/Do you write Planning and Investment minister or Plan and Investment minister ? Why? Planning and Investment Minister. He/she is in charge of planning, not plans.

7/In state credit capital, is state an uncountable noun? depends. Are you talking of the credit capital available in the state (non-count) or something called 'State Credit Capital' (count)

8/Do you write it was the remark or it were the remarks here? This whole sentence doesn't make sense. Do you mean that the whole of the paragraph is his remarks? Then 'Those were the remarks of.... It would be better to state this at the beginning though 'At the meeting, the minister remarked that......

9/ Is limited an adjectif or a verb used in the passive? AJECTIVE adjecectIVE adjectIVE adjectIVE. You always misspell this - it's a bad habit you need to break. However, not sure which it is, sorry.

10/Do you write The basic construction investment capital or The basic constructional investment capiatal ? Why?What is the difference btw them? Basic construction investment capital (no the). The capital is to be used for construction, not used for constructional. If you use constructional then it is saying that the investment capital in someway constructs something directly. Money doesn't construct things. It may pay for materials and labour to construct things, but it isn't out there digging holes and pouring concrete itself.

12/ Is there comma after so? No comma.

Writing (1)

Tung Quoc — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 09:41:31 GMT

Please read:

Government's April meeting: Announcing targets and capital for people to decide and supervise.

In this context:

1/Is it obligatory to write the before targets,industrial production and next few few months?Why?

2/April's socio-economic growth (1)= April socio-economic growth (2) ?If not, what is wrong? Why?

3/the previous growth pace (3) =the growth pace before (4)= the growth pace earlier? (5)If not, what is wrong? Why?

4/Do you write efficiency or effectiveness here? Why?What is the difference in meaning btw them?

5/Do remained and preserved have the same meaning and are they interchangeable?If not, what is the difference in meaning btw them?

6/Do you write Planning and Investment minister or Plan and Investment minister ? Why?

7/In state credit capital, is state an uncountable noun?

8/Do you write it was the remark or it were the remarks here?

9/ Is limited an adjectif or a verb used in the passive?

10/Do you write The basic construction investment capital or The basic constructional investment capiatal ? Why?What is the difference btw them?

12/ Is there comma after so?

Thanks

Re: is/are

Rothkowitz — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 15:50:27 GMT

I sent this a a message to Grammar Geek:

Thanks, but....I understand there is a "primary way"...Perhaps I'm not being clear. I'm not asking how this is most often said etc. etc...my interest is academic, viz., is it somehow acceptable to say this the other way: "There are sadness and..."

Yes, it sounds odd and does not seem primary to me as well....however, as per Yoong's response and several grammar texts, it is not easily impeachable. My question is, would we have to accept such a formulation. I know "there is" operates somewhat strangely because it is an existential construction. For example, we say "Where ARE the cat and the dog?" but "There IS a cat and a dog"; "There is sadness and happiness"; "A cat and a dog ARE here" "Sadness and happiness ARE in the world." I'm just asking about the "There ARE x and y..." form, particularly about uncountable nouns (abstract nouns) and precisely because it sounds odd but is difficult to reject logically

Thanks in advance for your input...

Re: Why is it that way?

Believer — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 10:21:41 GMT

Hi,

Can we employ that type of phrasal construction for both uncountable and countable nouns? I am guessing that not all countable and uncountable nouns can be the parties to this type of transformation. I think the word "kindness" is uncountable.

too much of a kindness -- I think, from your response regarding the case of "hassle," it can be safely said for this phrase that the speaker is viewing a particular instance of happiness as being too much.

How about this? I am particularly curious because I seem to see that kind of phrases a lot these days.

too much of a good thing -- too much of a particular thing?? Why use a quantifying phrase "too much" in front of a countable frame (?) "a good thing" ? Is it a prevalent practice?

I think this type of phrasal construction is useful to some extent because it gives some functional latitude in the exercise of the writer's legitimate stylistic whim.

(Sorry, I accidentally and mistakenly deleted the article "a" for both phrases in the original post.)

Re: Use of article "the" with places

paco2004 — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 11:31:48 GMT

Hello Anon

I'm a mere English learner from Japan and my role here is rather an asker than an answerer. But if you don't mind, I'd like you to read my ideas about your question.

I take "school" in "go to school" or "church" in "go to church" as an uncountable noun. As you suggested, "school" or "church" in such usage means the activities that would take place in any physical institutions called "schools" or "churches". On the other hand, "bank" in "go to the bank" and "store" in "go to the grocery store" are countable nouns and they are names of physically existent substances (=houses). Why are they modified with THE? I suppose it is because when these expressions were born, there existed only one bank or one grocery store in the area in which common English speakers spent their time every day. Because of this uniqueness, I suppose, saying "go to the bank or the grocery store" should have been more natural to them than saying "go to a bank or a grocery store", when they talked with people living in the same area.

"Hospital" in "be in hospital" or "go to hospital" in British English might be similar to "school" in "go to school" in that the noun means an abstract notion - receiving some medical treatment in this case. Why do you Americans say "the hospital" instead of mere "hospital"? As to this question, a linguist suggests that the use of THE in American English might have come from that the Irish people who immigrated to the United States were hyperconscious about using THE. The Irish people those days were excellent speakers of English because English proficiency was the only means with which they could escape from the Great Famine, but still THE was a thing tough for them to use correctly because their mother tongue Gaelic lacks the word equivalent to English THE. So told the linguist (click here).

Regarding your last question, the phrase "go home" originated in Old English where every nouns retained cases. There some nouns in accusative case were used often as a directional adverb. "Home" in "go home" is a relic of such usage of "home" in accusative case as an adverbial. About this, the Oxford English Dictionary tells as follows.
The accusative "home" retains its original use after a verb of motion, as in "to go or come home" (= L. ire, venire domum); but as this construction is otherwise obsolete in the language, "home" so used is treated practically as an adverb, and has developed purely adverbial uses.

paco

The noun "work" - countable or uncountable?

pottolom — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 11:11:57 GMT

I am a native English speaker and have recently started working at an engineering firm in Eastern Europe as an environmental scientist. One of my roles within the company is to teach English to staff and I recently noticed that many of the company's employees use the noun "works", for example: "we will carry out engineering works".

I am qualified to teach English as a foreign language (CELTA) and I have always been taught that "work" is an uncountable noun, similar to water, i.e. we don't say "I have a lot of works." in the same way that we don't say "I have a lot of waters." The noun "work" is also listed as an uncountable noun in dictionaries.

In understood that the only exception was when referring to a factory or similar, e.g. a steel factory can be called a steelworks.

I told the staff about this mistake during my English lessons, but one of them came to me today and pointed out that in the FIDIC (an engineering institute) guidebook "Conditions of Contract for Construction", work is used as a countable noun with considerable frequency. I looked at the contents page and saw several examples: for example, "Commencement of Works", "Taking Over of Parts of the Works", etc. At the same time, I can also see that work has been used as an uncountable noun in the book, for example, "Resumption of Work", "Suspension of Work", etc.

As far as I'm concerned, this appears to be a mistake, but maybe I'm wrong? As a scientist, I'm not overly familiar with engineering terms - maybe that's the problem?

Can anyone help me with this at all? When can work be used as a countable noun?

Re: About "too...to..."

paco2004 — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 17:47:21 GMT

Hello MrMicawber.

Thank you for the reply. That contains really useful new information. The construction of 'N too Adj to do' is what I have long wondered why people use. But now I got it. However, regarding to the original question about the reason why we cannot put 'too/so Adj' before plural or uncountable noun, I'm disappointed a bit to know even Quirk did not give a clear answer. You suggested people confuse the use of 'too' with that of 'very'. But we can put 'very Adj' before plural/uncountable noun. So I still cannot be absolved from the original question.

As to the dictionaries, I'm now using OED version 2, Webster's College Dictionary, American Heritage, Oxford Etymology, and the online dictionaries linked with One-Look. In addition I often use a bilingual dictionary 'Genius E-J' to know the usage of common words (I think this dictionary contains most of articles described in Quirk's CGEL). Nowadays we English learners can check word usage of current English by using Google, but a problem of this learning method is that not a few people are using grammatically dubious English in their online pages. This is the reason why I come here to ask questions.

paco.