From Mass to Count

<b>Forum for teachers teaching adult education </b>

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Munsook
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue May 13, 2003 10:18 pm

From Mass to Count

Post by Munsook » Tue Nov 04, 2003 10:55 pm

I really have a problem with this topic.
"coffee" is an uncountable noun. But we can say "a coffee" and "3 coffees" because it denotes a serving.

Also "cake" can be countable and uncountable according my book.
For example, a cake OR a piece of cake.
So then, is it "three different kinds of cake" or "three different kinds of cakes"?

Also, I have a problem with "kind".
We say, "What kind of job do you have?".
Do we also ask "What kinds of jobs do you have"
if I know this person has more than one job?

dduck
Posts: 265
Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2003 11:11 pm
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Post by dduck » Wed Nov 05, 2003 11:21 am

Collected from google:

"kinds of cake" 801 hits
"kind of cakes" 1,700 hits
"kinds of cakes" 992 hits
"kinds of job" 2,730 hits
"kind of jobs" 15,400 hits
"kinds of jobs" 30,400 hits

It appears that this area of English is quite flexible.

Iain

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