TID: FMail-lnx32 2.1.0.18-B20170905   
   TZUTC: 1000   
   CHRS: UTF-8 2   
   MSGID: 3:640/1384 5ccc1f5b   
   REPLY: 2:221/6.0 5ccc01d0   
   Hi! Alexander,   
      
   On 03 May 19 11:54, you wrote to Mike Powell:   
      
    AK> [The lack of oxygen at this height saps power.]   
    AK> "saps" is related to "lack" and oxygen doesn't make "lack"   
    AK> uncountable.   
      
   IMHO: saps is related to power.  Power is the thing being sapped by a lack of   
   oxygen.   
      
    AK> or an uncountable form:   
      
    AK> [Their apparent lack of progress mean they are not doing their job   
    AK> properly.]   
      
   IMHO: this is unnatural to a native speaker.  (I don't know where Mike got his   
   rule from, although it may be correct for 99.99% of cases in his locale.)  The   
   passage should read: "...lack of progress means they are not...".  It could be   
   countable, in either the case of there being many (persons) involved, or in the   
    singular case of one person, when speaking of 'their'.  English can be   
   annoyingly imprecise at times.  8-)   
      
   Cheers,   
   Paul.   
      
   ... finer temptress, Through the ages she's heading west,   
   --- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20130515   
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