Korean Job Discussion Forums

[raewon]

I hope everyone had a good holiday and made a few extra wishes under the "larger" moon.

I have a question about word selection that I hope someone can help with.
Perhaps readers will disagree.

Her website has a fair amount of literary _________.

Which is correct for the blank?
content
contents
either content OR contents

At first I thought only "content" was correct, but depending on how you think about it, I have to wonder if both could be possible.

From the American Heritage Dictionary:

[thegadfly]

Substitute "pizza" for content and see how that sounds -- a fair amount of pizza vs. a fair amount of pizzas.

I'd go with only content for this answer.

[schwa]

Almost definitely "content."

"Literary content" indicates a singular abstract aspect of the site more than a countable ingredient, which I think is what the statement implies & general usage would confirm.

"Contents" isnt out & out wrong though, if you were also considering non-literary elements.

[Stain]

Content is the right answer. Contents are used for countable things as we all know. For example, the contents of this box include pencils,erasers, and porn magazines. However, it can be used for books and websites as well. This is where it gets tricky. The contents of a book or website are referring to the "words", which is something countable; whereas, "content" is referring to subject matter or ideas, something uncountable. So, when you are talking about "literary" you are talking about an idea, so "content" is the right answer.

[raewon]

Thanks a lot for all of the replies. I guess that is what I had expected.

stain wrote:

[Stain]