Search from various Tiếng Anh teachers...
ㅤㅤㅤ
A + uncountable noun?
Just came across this usage for the first time.
"Cheddar is a kind of cheese" can be shortened to "cheddar is a cheese."
Do you use this rule in real life? How common and practical is this usage? Is it the same rule with "I'd like 2 coffees"? So how do I know which uncountable noun can be used with 'a/an' too?
Other examples are:
Maple is a wood. = Maple is a kind of wood.
Spaghetti is a food. = Spaghetti is a kind of food.
Thank you
11 Thg 02 2019 10:40
Câu trả lời · 5
2
1. Yes. This is normal:
Cheddar is a hard cheese from England.
Lapsang Souchong is a smoked tea from China.
In these cases, we interpret 'cheese' and 'tea' to mean 'a specific variety of cheese/tea'. This makes these nouns grammatically countable.
2. No, it's not the same as 'I'd like two coffees'. If you say 'I'd like two coffees', this means two cups of coffee ( not types of coffee).
3. Any noun describing a substance could probably have a countable form meaning 'type of'.
11 tháng 2 năm 2019
1
In this learner's dictionary, "cheese" is defined as a variable noun, which means that it is both countable and uncountable, depending on context. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/cheese
Many physical materials are variable nouns, like "wood". It is less common for abstract nouns to be used countably e.g. love, jealousy.
The answer is to check a good learner's dictionary and example sentences.
11 tháng 2 năm 2019
Bạn vẫn không tìm thấy được các câu trả lời cho mình?
Hãy viết xuống các câu hỏi của bạn và để cho người bản xứ giúp bạn!
ㅤㅤㅤ
Kỹ năng ngôn ngữ
Tiếng Anh, Khác
Ngôn ngữ đang học
Tiếng Anh
Bài viết Bạn Có lẽ Cũng Thích

How to Ask for a Raise or Promotion in English
9 lượt thích · 8 Bình luận

The Key to Learning a Language Faster
31 lượt thích · 8 Bình luận

Why "General English" is Failing Your Career (An Engineer’s Perspective)
30 lượt thích · 12 Bình luận
Thêm bài viết
