ANALYZING THE GRAMMAR OF ENGLISH by Richard V. Teschner

Author:Richard V. Teschner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Published: 2007-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Mass Nouns and Count Nouns

All common nouns function in any given context as either mass nouns or count nouns. A count noun is any noun that allows pluralization and can be modified by plural numbers or by quantity words such as many. A mass noun on the other hand does not allow pluralization and is modified by quantity words like much or by measurer words or phrases like a cup of or a piece of. What follows is a figure that sets forth the relationships between mass noun use and count noun use in all possible environments involving determiners or their absence. When using the figure, be sure to put it into the wider context of English’s hundreds of thousands of nouns by keeping this in mind: while nearly all nouns can function as count, only a handful can function as mass. Count then is the unmarked or default category.

As we see, nouns functioning as mass never pluralize. (Example h has already been identified as a mass-to-count shift, so in h, the archetypical mass noun meat no longer is a mass noun, having shifted over to count status.) Nouns functioning as mass never co-occur with the singular indefinite article a. Mass nouns, then, are limited in function to these environments:

no determiner and singular [environment a]

definite article and singular [environment c] •••

some and singular [environment g] •••

Note the ••• symbols. They mark the only two environments—c and g—in which mass-functioning nouns and count-functioning nouns can overlap. (In all other environments, mass and count are mutually exclusive.) Count nouns’ environmental spread is much greater. Count nouns occur in all environments except a (no determiner and singular). Here is a list of the environments in which count nouns routinely occur:

no determiner and plural [environment b]

definite article and singular [environment c] •••

definite article and plural [environment d]

indefinite article and singular [environment e]

some and singular [environment g]•••

some and plural [environment h]

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