MSGID: 1:153/716.0 cf0a2f91   
   REPLY: 561.englisht@1:2320/105 2141e537   
   CHRS: IBMPC 2   
   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+   
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