24/12/2024
Continuation of Yesterday's Lessons...
These are equally worthy of note.
▪️There are many meats in the pot of soup.❌(Incorrect expression)
▪️The defense counsel tendered many evidences to prove his point in the court. ❌(un-English)
▪️The informations are very useful. ❌(Also incorrect)
Why?
The words "meat" (of same type), "evidence" and "information" are uncountable nouns. That is one. Two, being uncountable nouns, the appropriate determiner to qualify them should be "much", NOT "many". Three, as uncountable nouns, they should remain in their singular states, not take the plural marker, "-s", and consequently, should be used with singular verbs.
Suffice it to say that, those sentences are faulty for three reasons:
1. Preceded by the qualifier "many" instead of "much",
2. Pluralising the uncountable nouns as though they were countable nouns, and
3. Using them with plural verbs.
Thus, the sentences below are equally incorrect.
▪️There are many chalks left. ❌(except the chalks are of different colours)
▪️The fishes are alive. ❌ (except they are of different species)
▪️There are many sands in the rice. ❌Etc.
The sentences below are the correct versions of all the erroneous ones above.
1. There IS MUCH meat in the pot of soup. ☑️
2. The defense counsel tendered MUCH EVIDENCE to prove his point in the court. ☑️
3. The INFORMATION IS very useful. ☑️
4. There IS MUCH chalk left. ☑️
5. The FISH IS alive. ☑️
6. There IS MUCH SAND in the rice. ✔️
However, one could use PARTITIVES to show the plurality of each of the above uncountable nouns.
Drop any question/s in the comments section.
Did you learn something new today?
© Christopher Henry Udoka
