Why is there no A/AN before the word pepper?
I bought pepper.
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2I bought coffee. Pepper is uncountable. A pepper is a vegetable. Pepper is a spice. You need to provide examples and also use a dictionary before asking. Thanks.– LambieCommented Oct 21, 2023 at 21:37
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I meant pepper which is a vegetable. For example, I bought pepper and a bottle at the store. Why is there no A before the pepper?– שבי לויCommented Oct 21, 2023 at 22:15
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2@שבילוי If you mean the vegetable, you need "a/an", and "I bought pepper" is a mistake. Where did you see this sentence?– gotube ♦Commented Oct 22, 2023 at 5:06
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2 Answers
We use the indefinite article "a/an" before countable nouns only.
The word "pepper" can be either countable or uncountable.
If it's countable, it means the individual fruit of a capsicum plant, like these four:
If "pepper" is uncountable, then it means peppercorns, which are the fruit of the black pepper plant, either whole or in ground form, like these:
So "a pepper" means the first type, and without "a/an" means it's the second type. So in your example sentence, we know they bought black peppercorns or ground black pepper.
In general, "a" implies a quantity of 1.
If you buy one whole pepper (🌶️), you have bought a pepper.
But "pepper" can also be a mass noun, when referring to ground pepper (as a spice). You might measure it in grams. Here the indefinite article is not used:
I bought pepper.
I bought some pepper.
I bought 1 gram of pepper.
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Pepper as a mass noun can also refer to an indefinite quantity of unground peppercorns (as a spice). Grinding is not a necessary condition for the use of the uncountable sense.– phoogCommented Oct 22, 2023 at 13:04