Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[nawee]

Hello,

Is it "massive fire" or "a massive fire"? When is "fire" countable?

Thank you,

Nawee

[CP]

A fire, a conflagration, is a specific instance of something burning, so you can certainly say "a massive fire."

"There was a fire at the school last night! Some children were playing with fire."

"The man lost his life in a fire. Fire takes the lives of many people."

"Traffic was delayed by a fire. So add fire to accidents and heavy traffic for excuses for being late for work."
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[pugachevV]

Fire can be countable as in:-
Three forest fires were started by lightning in the northern bush.


The Toronto fire department extinguished a record 8 fires on Wednesday night.

and so on.