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Would you like a chocolate? (If I offer to taste one chocolate from a box.)

Would you like some chocolate? (If I offer to taste a bar of chocolate.)

Is it correct?

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  • I would suggest that the downvote (not mine) is due to the very basic nature of the question. You're only asking if one or both sentences are correct. Why not explain the reason for asking? What is the context? Sometimes details make questions more interesting to answer.
    – Mari-Lou A
    May 14, 2020 at 11:55
  • english.stackexchange.com/questions/152833/… maybe this answer of mine may help
    – Mari-Lou A
    May 14, 2020 at 11:58
  • What do you think "offer to taste" means?
    – Michael Harvey
    May 14, 2020 at 13:42
  • Mari-Lou A, you don't need to suggest it. It must do who downvote the question. Your explanation is slightly absurd: "Why not explain the reason for asking? What is the context?".
    – Sergei
    May 14, 2020 at 17:47
  • Asking if the two sentences are correct is asking users to proofread, and proofreading is strictly off-topic. Expanding on why you are asking makes the question more interesting and helps users understand why you are confused.
    – Mari-Lou A
    May 14, 2020 at 18:06

1 Answer 1

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Yes, "chocolate" is often used both as a countable and as a mass noun.

"Chocolate" as a mass noun refers to the substance, in the same way as "butter" or "flour," and we can talk about "some chocolate" (a certain quantity of the substance).

"Chocolate" as a countable noun can be thought of as short for "a piece of chocolate." We might have a box of chocolates (individual pieces, e.g. truffles) and we can give someone a chocolate.

This doesn't apply to all substances; we never say "a box of butters" or "would you like a flour."

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  • But it's not quite "a piece of chocolate", is it? It's an individually-made chocolate confection. If I broke a piece off a bar of chocolate, I would offer it to somebody as "a piece of chocolate", not "a chocolate".
    – Colin Fine
    May 14, 2020 at 11:06
  • So, I could say both examples: Would you like some biscuits? Would you like a biscuit? Is it right? Which is more popular question form?
    – Sergei
    May 14, 2020 at 11:14
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    Some biscuits is not comparable to some chocolate., because biscuits are by definition countable items, not a substance. You could say 'Would you like some biscuits?' if you were happy for the other person to help themselves to several of them.
    – Kate Bunting
    May 14, 2020 at 13:02
  • @TypeIA - 'a chocolate' does not usually mean simply 'a piece of chocolate'; it means an item of chocolate confectionery of a type found in 'boxes of chocolates'.
    – Michael Harvey
    May 14, 2020 at 13:45

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