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From | To | Subject | Date/Time | |||
Ardith Hinton | Mike Powell | National Geographic |
May 30, 2019 11:46 PM * |
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Hi, Mike! Recently you wrote in a message to ARDITH HINTON: AH> As a native speaker, you may not have heard the terms AH> "countable" & "uncountable" in school. I think I AH> probably learned them from Alexander. But you may AH> recall being taught about stuff which is usually AH> measured by weight or by volume... e.g. various AH> liquids, meat/fish/poultry, cheese, and salt because AH> it's okay to say "less" whereas with countable objects AH> one should say "fewer". MP> Thanks, I am not sure I did ever hear those terms used, MP> but you have successfully reminded me of the difference MP> between using "less" and "fewer." I shall have to admit MP> that it this part of the US, you are not likely to hear MP> "fewer" used much... It's becoming increasingly rare around these parts. And FOWLER'S, a UK source, notes that many people use "less" with countable nouns but describes such situations as "regrettable"... [wry grin]. MP> I am not certain that we spent much time on abstract nouns, MP> either. We did learn that they could be used as nouns but MP> I don't think much emphasis was put on the "abstract" bit. Various terms have been used to codify English grammar. Some people tried to improve on traditional grammar forty or fifty years ago... but the net result was that many others threw up their hands in despair & gave up trying to figure it out. I am grateful for having learned traditional grammar because my reference books & my Russian friends use +/- the same terminology. When I know the name of some concept or other I can look it up, and I learn a lot that way. People who are learning English as a foreign language have access to charts & diagrams you & I have probably never seen. But if as a native speaker you happened to be in my class while another student was trying to persuade his audience that love, friendship, and willingness to learn don't exist because he is stuck on an eight-year-old level... I would have done my best to cite enough examples before the discussion ground to a halt that you would understand. :-) --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+ * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716) |
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