By definition, a collective noun denotes a collection of persons, animals, or things regarded as a unit or taken as a whole. Now that it’s clear how mass nouns, count nouns, and noncount nouns differ from one another, we should be ready to differentiate a collective noun from a mass noun. This is why in the case of the noncount noun “heat,” we can’t say “a heat,” “three heats,” “few heats,” or “many heats” we can only qualify or measure “heat” in terms of degree or intensity, as in “extreme heat,” “overpowering heat,” or “95-degree heat under the shade.” Specifically, we can use a count noun with a numeral, modify it by the words “many” or “few” and by the indefinite article “a” or “an,” and generally can affix “s” or “-es” to it to make it plural, as in “The business magnate has many cars- 10 cars in all-and a private jet as well.” In contrast, we can’t do those things to a noncount noun. The polar opposite of noncount nouns are, of course, the count nouns, which denote objects or ideas that can form a plural or occur in a noun phrase with an indefinite article or with numerals. Mass nouns actually fall under the category of noncount nouns, which denote things that can’t be counted because they are considered as a whole that can’t be divided into parts. The mass noun then becomes countable in the case of the mass nouns “coffee” and “bread,” for instance, it becomes perfectly grammatical to say “She finished four coffees in ten minutes flat” and “I like different breads for breakfast for every day of the week.” One notable exception to this rule is when a mass noun is used to refer to different units or types of it. Thus, we can’t say “12 waters” or “a dozen waters” but can say “12 liters of water” and “a dozen gallon-jugs of water” we can’t say “50 rices” but can say “50 kilos of rice” or “one sack of rice” and we can’t say “6 happinesses” or “10 dishonesties” but can say “6 periods of happiness” and “10 instances of dishonesty.” Yes, there’s definitely such a thing as a “mass noun.” A mass noun denotes a substance or concept that’s not divisible into countable units and, in the English language in particular, it is preceded in indefinite constructions by such modifiers as “some” or “much” rather than by the articles “a” or “one.” Typical examples of mass nouns are substances such as “water,” “sand,” “oil,” and “air” items such as “rice,” “sugar,” “luggage,” and “furniture” and concepts such as “happiness,” “loneliness,” and “dishonesty.” (This early, though, I won’t differentiate a mass noun from a collective noun yet to avoid confusing you while we take up the ways that nouns are classified in English.)Īs a rule, a mass noun is one that can’t be directly modified by a number without providing a specific unit of measurement. Is there such a thing as a “mass noun”? If so, please differentiate it from a “collective noun.”
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |