Matching Numbers
“These computers come with a 40GB hard drive” Or “These computers come with 40GB hard drives.” Which is correct? If both, which is preferred? Or what are the different implications?
7 comments • Posted in Grammar
Type
“Mercedes SL500. Acura NSX. BMW Z4. These types of cars are ...” Or “This type of cars” Or “This type of car” Or “These types of car” Or “These types of a car” In a situation where, by the word “type”, I mean to say “expensive sports car”, which is correct? It is one specific type of automobile that I’m trying to refer to, so “types” seems wrong, but to follow a list of cars with “This type of” seems wrong too. (What would “this” be referring to? It would not be the cars that I listed.)
7 comments • Posted in Grammar
Future
“In a future, we’ll have...” Why is “future” a countable noun? In what situations do you use “futures”? Do you ever say, “In futures, we’ll have...”
7 comments • Posted in Grammar
A lot of water
Can I say “a lot of water”? Could “a lot of” be used for uncountable nouns? In other words, could “a lot of” be used to substitute both “many” and “much”?
8 comments • Posted in Grammar
What is / What are
“These are not what is going to bring us happiness.” Or “These are not what are going to bring us happiness.” Which is correct?
4 comments • Posted in Grammar
A Part of ...
“I am a part of the team” or “I am part of the team” Which is correct? If both, then what’s the difference in implication?
3 comments • Posted in Grammar
Past / Present
“At the lecture yesterday, only a few of them knew who I am.” Is this correct or should it be “who I was”? “Who I was” sounds like they knew who I was 10 years ago.
5 comments • Posted in Grammar
Text, A Text, Texts
I wrote “Multiple pages of recipes from the book, each page consisting of a photo and a text.” And, Manny pointed out to me that “a text” is wrong, that it should simply be “text”. But the plural form of the word “text” actually exists. If “texts” is legal, then “a text” must also exist. In what situation would one use “a text”?
4 comments • Posted in Grammar
Speed(s)
In Wired magazine, I came across: “fast and furious Internet speeds”. Why “speeds”? Why plural? Why is “speed” countable in the first place? Speed is measurable, but you can’t really count the concept of velocity itself, like one speed, two speeds, three speeds.
2 comments • Posted in Grammar
Life or Lives
Is it wrong to say, “The life of the people”? Or, do you have to say, “The lives of the people”? When you use “of” in this context do the numbers (pluralization) have to match between the first noun and the last noun?
2 comments • Posted in Grammar
“A” News
For some reason I’ve always thought the word “news” had an article attached to it, i.e., “a news”. Like: “That’s a good news.” I always said. No one corrected me until today. Thank you Manny.
Be the first to comment • Posted in Grammar
Don’t you count money?
Now, when I think of counting, the first thing that comes to my mind is money. So why is the word “money” considered un-countable? Why is this wrong?: “I have a lot of monies.”
3 comments • Posted in Grammar
