Timeline for Can I use amount with plural nouns
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
18 events
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| Aug 3, 2023 at 16:07 | comment | added | DTRT | @Showsni Contexts here are very nuanced. You might say "That's too much of the plants but not enough of the insects." because the specific product would be known to both. To the florist, you'd be more specific at the consumer level "too many roses, not enough baby's breath." The nuance in this context is that 'plants' is a product in itself, not composed of individual specific plants. | |
| Aug 3, 2023 at 12:48 | comment | added | Jesse | While I don't think this answer addresses the primary issue, I think this industrial usage idea is accurate, helpful, and very much relevant. So, I'm upvoting. Another example from the question is fuels, also comparable to waters. | |
| Aug 2, 2023 at 22:33 | comment | added | Showsni | @Johns-305 So if I'm a farmer awaiting a delivery of feed for my cattle and they bring more than I need, I would say "That's too much plants!" to the delivery driver (because it's uncountable in this context), but if I'm awaiting a delivery from my florist I'd say "That's too many plants!" (because it's countable in this context)? Is that right? | |
| Aug 2, 2023 at 19:39 | comment | added | DTRT | @MichaelHarvey Yes, but only when the specific potato product is known to both the speaker and listener, which is why I point out that means something different. Your example works in a factory but not the general context OP is asking about. | |
| Aug 2, 2023 at 19:37 | comment | added | DTRT | @BadZen OMG, stop digging the hole deeper. At this point, when you're triggered, I know I'm right. | |
| Aug 2, 2023 at 19:34 | history | edited | DTRT | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 2, 2023 at 19:02 | comment | added | BadZen | A second (minor) issue in this answer which needs correcting: it's "herd", and not "heard". | |
| Aug 2, 2023 at 18:58 | comment | added | BadZen | You could also have "three pieces of furniture", that does not make the number sense of "furniture" countable. It does demonstrate that "tons" are countable, however. | |
| Aug 2, 2023 at 18:53 | comment | added | Michael Harvey | You could have five tons of powdered or dried potato. | |
| Aug 2, 2023 at 18:45 | comment | added | BadZen | The reference I gave you, as well as the Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (2002 p. 338), which both agree that the plural form forces a counted number, are wrong? Because you say so? Can you provide an authoritative reference that supports your opinion, since the CGEL disagrees with you here? (By the way, no one has argued that the text in OP is invalid, read up.) | |
| Aug 2, 2023 at 18:39 | comment | added | DTRT | @BadZen Seriously, stop. You weird beef with me is a disservice to readers. My example of 100% correct. Plants is a collective form and uncountable in this context. Reference all you want, you're still wrong. The text OP is referring to is completely valid. | |
| Aug 2, 2023 at 18:34 | comment | added | BadZen | "Plants" is a plural form, and uncountable nouns have no plural form. See engvid.com/english-resource/countable-and-uncountable-nouns for more on this, and to verify what I'm telling you - it's said there exactly the same. "Potato" has nothing to do with this, it's obviously a countable noun. "One potato, Two potatoes". There is no question about the number of the noun in the passage above, the question is about the use of "amount". | |
| Aug 2, 2023 at 18:29 | comment | added | DTRT | @BadZen BTW, I love the attention. But you're wrong again. Plants in this case is an uncountable noun, see my example. You would not say 10 tons of potato. Well, you could but that means something different. It's essentially a collective noun, hence uncountable. | |
| Aug 2, 2023 at 18:25 | comment | added | BadZen | This is incorrect. Uncountable number is never used with a plural form. If a noun is inherently uncountable, it has no plural form. An example of an "uncountable noun" is "furniture". You cannot write "furnitures" to describe a set of chairs, tables, and bookshelves. "Chairs", "tables" and "bookshelves" are countable. | |
| Aug 2, 2023 at 18:11 | comment | added | DTRT | @MichaelHarvey Thanks for the actually helpful comment! | |
| Aug 2, 2023 at 18:10 | history | edited | DTRT | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Aug 2, 2023 at 16:49 | comment | added | Michael Harvey |
has it's nuances?
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| Aug 2, 2023 at 16:22 | history | answered | DTRT | CC BY-SA 4.0 |