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+