noise

[Humble]

Hi,
I am confused – should there be articles here?
1. Children, don’t make (a) noise.
2. We are used to (a) constant traffic noise.
Could there be 2 versions with different meanings?
TIA

[MikeNewYork]

Hi,
I am confused – should there be articles here?
1. Children, don’t make (a) noise.
2. We are used to (a) constant traffic noise.
Could there be 2 versions with different meanings?
TIA

#1 could be "don't make a sound", but these uses of noise are uncountable.

[Tdol]

In British English, I think it would be fairly normal to use 'a noise' in the first example, but not in the second.

[Humble]

Thank you, Mike and tdol.

[eflnow]

"noise" is both countable (will take the indefinite article) and uncountable(without the indefinite article) , the meaning may change depending on how it is used. check out "online dictionaries" in the reference section of this site.

[MikeNewYork]

Thank you, Mike and tdol.

You're welcome.