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china_sk8er
Joined: 30 Oct 2004
Posts: 166
Location: Harbin
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 Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:15 am Post subject: Pizza or pizzas? |
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I have had this discussion with all of my coworkers and nobody really knows the answer to this question. Is pizza a countable or uncountable noun? My students ask me all the time, but I don't know how to explain it to them.
I think that pizza is both countable and uncountable. I think it all depends whether you use it in an uncountable or countable tense.
For instance:
Uncountable: I like to eat pizza.
Countable: How many pizzas do you want to order?
Anybody know if this is the answer or not? I am not sure and would like to hear what everybody has to say about it.
Cheers |
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dyak
Joined: 25 Jun 2003
Posts: 630
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 10:59 am Post subject: |
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| china_sk8er wrote: |
| I think that pizza is both countable and uncountable. |
Yes, i think so too.
I had too much pizza.
I had too many pizzas.
It's a loan word from Italian, no? So we borrow the singular but not the plural, which would be pizze, i think. |
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Gordon
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 11:06 am Post subject: |
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| dyak wrote: |
| china_sk8er wrote: |
| I think that pizza is both countable and uncountable. |
Yes, i think so too.
I had too much pizza.
I had too many pizzas.
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Yes, they are both countable and non-count. However, I don't think we'd say "I had too many pizzas" unless you were a sumo wrestler. Perhaps "I had too many pieces of pizza".
Personally, I'd go with "I had too much pizza". |
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ntropy
Joined: 11 Oct 2003
Posts: 671
Location: ghurba
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 1:15 pm Post subject: |
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I agree with Gordon, it's both, depending on usage.
Now, what about pizzazz? |
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ls650
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 1:36 pm Post subject: |
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"I ate too much pizza."
"I ordered four pizzas for the party."
Both. If you are referring to part of one pizza, uncountable. If you are referring to more than one, countable. |
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sigmoid
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 1276
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 1:56 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, there are a number of nouns that are both countable and uncountable, especially food items like chicken/chickens, cake/cakes, etc.
Should we try to compile a list? |
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Ben Round de Bloc
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1946
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 2:16 pm Post subject: |
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| sigmoid wrote: |
Yes, there are a number of nouns that are both countable and uncountable, especially food items like chicken/chickens, cake/cakes, etc.
Should we try to compile a list? |
If you want to compile a list, here's a start.
| Quote: |
Some Nouns that can be either Countable or Uncountable
abuse drama jail reading
adulthood duck jealousy religion
afternoon education language revision
age environment law rock
anger evening liberty science
appearance exercise life school
art fact love shock
beauty faith lunch society
beer fear man sorrow
belief fiction marriage space
breakfast film meat speech
cheese fish metal spirit
chicken flavor milk stone
childhood food morning strength
cloth freedom murder surprise
college friendship nature teaching
commitment fruit paper temptation
competition glass passion theater
concern government people theory
crime hair personality time
culture hatred philosophy tradition
death history pleasure trouble
desire home power truth
dinner hope prejudice turkey
disappointment ideology pressure understanding
discrimination imagination prison weakness
disease injustice punishment wine
divorce innocence race writing
http://rwc.hunter.cuny.edu/writing/on-line/countable.html |
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dyak
Joined: 25 Jun 2003
Posts: 630
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 2:23 pm Post subject: |
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| sigmoid wrote: |
| Should we try to compile a list? |
We should, but i can't stand teaching countable/uncountable nouns, and have successfully avoided it for the last 4 semesters. Perhaps it's selfish on my part, should i really deprive them of this confusion? |
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sigmoid
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 1276
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 3:22 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, I saw that list and almost posted it, but wanted to see what people would come up with on their own.
Also, I'm not sure I would agree with some of the words on the list:
hatreds?
adulthoods?
angers?
fictions?
milks?
innocences?
These seem curious to me... |
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Stephen Jones
Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124
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| Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2005 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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I don't think a list is that useful. Usages tend to be too flexible.
There are people who argue that pretty well any uncountable noun can be countable on occasion.
The Hunter college link which provided the above list has a list of uncountables at least half-a-dozen of which can be used as countables. |
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Deconstructor
Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Posts: 775
Location: Montreal
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| Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2005 3:50 am Post subject: |
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Most nouns can be both countable and uncountable simply by manipulating the context.
Example:
Pizza is considered junk food. (Category of pizza.)
Let's order a pizza. (It is one specific pizza, an object, therefore countable.) |
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