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

Re: How come I haven't heard this?

Vorpar — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 03:44:22 GMT

Believer wrote:

In your opinion, "I have a hammer." doesn't sound grammatically correct but "I've got a hammer." sounds grammatically correct?

I always thought/felt that the sentential construct "I have something." is both natural-sounding and grammatically correct. Am I missing something big in regard to the English dialect?

Also, is the word "dialect" a countable or an uncountable noun?

Sorry for the confusion. "I have something" sounds fine. It sounds weird when you contract it: "I've something"

Dialect is countable.

Re: How come I haven't heard this?

Believer — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 15:11:21 GMT

In your opinion, "I have a hammer." doesn't sound grammatically correct but "I've got a hammer." sounds grammatically correct?

I always thought/felt that the sentential construct "I have something." is both natural-sounding and grammatically correct. Am I missing something big in regard to the English dialect?

Also, is the word "dialect" a countable or an uncountable noun?

Re: Article

Clive — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 15:20:21 GMT

Hi,

1) Tom : There are many dialects in the Chinese language such as Cantonese and Hokkinese.

Why the is needed before Chinese language? (It is just the first time we mention it.) because there are many languages and we are specifying the Chinese one, not the German one, etc.

2)Tom: I have three pieces of advice.First........

Mary: Thank you for the advice.

"Advice" is uncountable noun. Why the is needed before this word? Just because something is uncountable, it doesn't necessarily mean you don't need an article.

3)Tom :Wow! Which city did you like the best?

Mary :I liked New York the best because there it has a lot of museums and shops to visit. I went to the headquaters of the United Nations, the statue of Liberty and the Metropolitan Museum.

Why the is needed before Metropolitan Museum? Isn't it a proper noun? There are lots of museums, here we mean specifically the Metropolitan one. Compare 'The Lincoln Memorial'. Or, from your own example, 'The United Nations'. Having said that, I admit that the use of articles with such proper names can sometimes be a little tricky and inconsistent.

Best wishes, Clive

Article

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 07:16:10 GMT

1) Tom : There are many dialects in the Chinese language such as Cantonese and Hokkinese.

Why the is needed before Chinese language? (It is just the first time we mention it.)

2)Tom: I have three pieces of advice.First........

Mary: Thank you for the advice.

"Advice" is uncountable noun. Why the is needed before this word?

3)Tom :Wow! Which city did you like the best?

Mary :I liked New York the best because there it has a lot of museums and shops to visit. I went to the headquaters of the United Nations, the statue of Liberty and the Metropolitan Museum.

Why the is needed before Metropolitan Museum? Isn't it a proper noun?

Re: Lake, Mountain, Beach

paco2004 — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 11:17:01 GMT

Anonymous wrote:
Do you figure out how "the" should be used there? It should not be because it is a collective noun. Are you saying we have to take the phrase as it is without asking why "the" is there because it's an idiomatic expression, Paco?

Hello Hiro

I am sorry but I have to say I might be wrong taking what OED is saying. To prepare to make an answer you, I've just now re-read OED's explanation about the etymology of "beach" and have noticed I might have misread the description. The dictionary rather says that "beach" was first used as an uncountable noun to mean the material on the seashore and later it began to be used as a noun indicating the place on the seashore that is covered with that material. "Walk on the beach" is an idiomatic phrase using "beach" in the latter sense.

I'll quote a part of the description in the OED.
beach, n.
[Origin unknown: apparently at first a dialect word, meaning, as it still does in Sussex, Kent, and the adjacent counties, the shingle or pebbles worn by the waves. Thence the transference of the term to the place covered by âbeach,â was easy for those who heard such phrases as âto lieâ or âwalk on the beach,â without knowing the exact significance. The Fr. grÃ¨ve shows precisely the same transference.

As to your question about the reason why "the" is used in the idiomatic phrase "walk on the beach", OED tells nothing.

paco