Cohesion and Clarity
12- 29
Fluids, solids, gases, particles: oil, water Abstractions: knowledge, time, help, advice, care Activities, procedures, processes: smoking, cloning, binding, detection Groupings of items: money, equipment Languages: English, Spanish, Chinese Weather and other natural phenomena: rain, lightning, thunder
Note: Some nouns can be either count or noncount , depending on their meaning in a particular context. Such words follow the pattern for either count nouns or noncount nouns, depending on how they are used.
Count: protein/proteins (the shape of a protein, the shape of proteins) Noncount: protein (Protein is critical for a healthy diet.)
Count: papers (How many papers have you written?) Noncount: paper (How much paper do you need?)
The concept of count and noncount exists in many languages. However, what is count in one language may be noncount in another language. For example:
In English, the word information is noncount. In French and Spanish, it is count: les informations, las informaciones.
Indefinite and Definite
Common nouns can refer to something indefinite or definite, depending on the article used.
A/an and the absence of a/an (Ø) are used to make nouns indefinite. a gel / gels / some gels decay / some decay
The is used to make nouns definite. the gel / the gels the decay
This pattern is true for count nouns ( singular and plural forms) and for noncount nouns.
Indefinite
Nouns that refer to something general or something not identified are preceded by indefinite articles. These nouns can be count (singular, plural) and noncount. a gene/genes genetics
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