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articles
I know that the articles a/an is used before singular noun but for example ( it is a pleasure) why we but a before pleasure can we count pleasure?
would you explain to me the use of articles in situation like this?
is it correct without (a) or there must be (a).
Thank you
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Re: articles
1. In the sense something that give you enjoyment/satisfaction, pleasure can be used as a count noun:
Gardening is one of life's real pleasures for me
It's a pleasure to do business with you.
2. I need a vacation.
Is it correct without a? No
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Re: articles
do you mean that pleasure can be counted and the plural is pleasures and for that we add a before pleasure?
or you meant that the pleasure refers to a certain activity and the a is refer to that activity?
in this sentence 'It's been a pleasure to meet you" isn't meet is a verb, and we do not add a before verb or the a for the world pleasure and we add it because it is singular??
hope my questions are clear, sorry for that but really i can't understand using a with pleasure.
Last edited by Ebtehal; 30-Nov-2010 at 10:35.
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Re: articles

Originally Posted by
Ebtehal
do you mean that pleasure can be counted and the plural is pleasures and for that we add a before pleasure?
Jed means 'pleasure' is either countable or not, depending on the meaning.
His visits gave his grandparents such pleasure. --uncounable
It was such a pleasure to meet you. -- countable
Of course the missing 'a' alone does not justify my assumption that 'pleasure' in #1 is [U], but my subconscious part (my whole brain
) forces me to think of it as one.
'(P)leasure' in the two sentences mean the same thing. Still the count-noncount dichotomity is there. Interesting! I think it is often more a matter of structure whether a noun is [C] or [U].
in this sentence 'It's been a pleasure to meet you" isn't meet is a verb, and we do not add a before verb or the a for the world pleasure and we add it because it is singular??
There 'meet' is a verb in infinitive form. Verbs never get an 'a' or 'an' or 'the'.
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