Message Area
Casually read the BBS message area using an easy to use interface. Messages are categorized exactly like they are on the BBS. You may post new messages or reply to existing messages!

You are not logged in. Login here for full access privileges.

Previous Message | Next Message | Back to English Tutoring for Students of...  <--  <--- Return to Home Page
   Networked Database  English Tutoring for Students of...   [810 / 900] RSS
 From   To   Subject   Date/Time 
Message   Ardith Hinton    Mike Powell   National Geographic   May 30, 2019
 11:46 PM *  

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)
  Show ANSI Codes | Hide BBCodes | Show Color Codes | Hide Encoding | Hide HTML Tags | Show Routing
Previous Message | Next Message | Back to English Tutoring for Students of...  <--  <--- Return to Home Page

VADV-PHP
Execution Time: 0.0915 seconds

If you experience any problems with this website or need help, contact the webmaster.
VADV-PHP Copyright © 2002-2024 Steve Winn, Aspect Technologies. All Rights Reserved.
Virtual Advanced Copyright © 1995-1997 Roland De Graaf.
v2.0.140505

Warning: Unknown: open(c:\Sessions\sess_rcc55v4tb3ud22092m0nbmtme3, O_RDWR) failed: No such file or directory (2) in Unknown on line 0 Warning: Unknown: Failed to write session data (files). Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct (c:\Sessions) in Unknown on line 0 PHP Warning: session_start(): open(c:\Sessions\sess_rcc55v4tb3ud22092m0nbmtme3, O_RDWR) failed: No such file or directory (2) in D:\wc5\http\public\VADV\include\common.inc.php on line 45 PHP Warning: Unknown: open(c:\Sessions\sess_rcc55v4tb3ud22092m0nbmtme3, O_RDWR) failed: No such file or directory (2) in Unknown on line 0 PHP Warning: Unknown: Failed to write session data (files). Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct (c:\Sessions) in Unknown on line 0