MSGID: 1:153/7715.0 d1bbcd60   
   REPLY: 2:221/6.0 5d1b17a2   
   CHRS: IBMPC 2   
   Hi Alexander -- on Jul 02 2019 at 11:36, you wrote:   
      
    AS>> Not at all, and Dallas Hinton explained it well that in this   
    AS>> phrase!?! horse' is uncountable becauase denotes a substance. In   
    AS>> Shakespeare, however,!?! snail' certainly refers to the whole   
    AS>> individual animal. Observe that Americans use!?! pie' uncountably,   
    AS>> too, e.g.: "We had tea and apple pie".   
      
   AK> Horse is a substance? ;)   
      
   One of the problems here is that many nouns can be both countable and   
   uncountable, depending on context. To confuse things further, "horse" is a   
   street name for cocaine (or at least, used to be -- dunno if that's still   
   true!)   
      
   When we say "tea and apple pie", we actually mean "a cup of tea and a piece of   
   apple pie" (or perhaps several cups and pieces, depending on greed, appetite,   
   and the host's offerings!).   
      
   Now - "horse" in the powder form is uncountable (without a microscope!) but can   
   be measured in grams (or variants). In the animal form, a herd of horses is   
   confusing, because while the number of horses in a herd can be counted but the   
   word "herd" isn't usually. Nonetheless, we might talk about there being a   
   number of herds of wild horses in the US midWest...and we could count them.   
      
   I guess what I'm really saying is that we shouldn't get too hung up on the   
   concept of countable vs. noncountable -- do what makes sense and remember that   
   the English language is a hodge-podge of words and phrases stolen from any   
   other language that will hold still long enough to be robbed!   
      
   Cheers... Dallas   
      
   --- timEd/NT 1.30+   
    * Origin: The BandMaster, Vancouver, CANADA (1:153/7715)   
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