there will be a heavy rain tomorrow

[joham]

I read in Oxford 'there will be heavy rain tomorrow'. I thought this sentence would be used in weather forecast. In spoken English native speakers would say 'there's going to be heavy rain tomorrow'. Am I right? And do you also say 'there will be a heavy rain tomorrow'? (Some of my net friends insist that we can use 'a' here.)

Thank you in advance.

[bhaisahab]

Originally Posted by joham

I read in Oxford 'there will be heavy rain tomorrow'. I thought this sentence would be used in weather forecast. In spoken English native speakers would say 'there's going to be heavy rain tomorrow'. Am I right? And do you also say 'there will be a heavy rain tomorrow'? (Some of my net friends insist that we can use 'a' here.)

Thank you in advance.

Hi joham,
"Rain" is a collective noun, you can say "There will be a heavy rainstorm tomorrow". or " A heavy fall of rain". It is not correct to say "a heavy rain tomorrow".

[David L.]

'there will be heavy rain tomorrow'. I thought this sentence would be used in weather forecast.
Yes - a statement of fact - come tomorrow and it will rain heavily

In spoken English native speakers would say 'there's going to be heavy rain tomorrow'.
Yes. But why are we bothering to say this to someone?
Because the speaker is alerting the person to the consequences of this. What is implied or understood between the speaker and hearer (if plans have been made) is something like:
'There's going to be heavy rain tomorrow (so I won't be able to mow the lawn after all.)"

or
'There's going to be heavy rain tomorrow so be sure to take an umbrella.'

'There's going to be heavy rain tomorrow.' (The two people are on holiday, it's been overcast all day, and now the speaker says this. The listener understands he is not only saying, we won't be able to get out and about much tomorrow particularly not down to the beach for sunbathing, but also, 'this is turning out to be a lousy/rotten holiday because of the bad weather.'

[Dawood Usmani]

Originally Posted by joham

I read in Oxford 'there will be heavy rain tomorrow'. I thought this sentence would be used in weather forecast. In spoken English native speakers would say 'there's going to be heavy rain tomorrow'. Am I right? And do you also say 'there will be a heavy rain tomorrow'? (Some of my net friends insist that we can use 'a' here.)

Thank you in advance.

"There will be a heavy rain tomorrow." Incorrect.
"There will beheavy rain tomorrow." Correct.
The reason why the first sentences is incorrect is that "rain" is an uncountable noun and an uncountable noun is never use directly with "a" or "an".
An inch of rain fell in an hour
An inch of rain fell in an hour.
Hope this helps!
Dawood

[Dawood Usmani]

Originally Posted by joham

I read in Oxford 'there will be heavy rain tomorrow'. I thought this sentence would be used in weather forecast. In spoken English native speakers would say 'there's going to be heavy rain tomorrow'. Am I right? And do you also say 'there will be a heavy rain tomorrow'? (Some of my net friends insist that we can use 'a' here.)

Thank you in advance.

"There will be a heavy rain tomorrow." Incorrect.
"There will beheavy rain tomorrow." Correct.
The reason why the first sentences is incorrect is that "rain" is an uncountable noun and an uncountable noun is never used directly with "a" or "an".
a heavy shower of rain
An inch of rain fell in an hour.
Hope this helps!
Dawood

[BobK]

Originally Posted by bhaisahab

Hi joham,
"Rain" is a collective noun, you can say "There will be a heavy rainstorm tomorrow". or " A heavy fall of rain". It is not correct to say "a heavy rain tomorrow".

But, since there is this alternative ('a heavy rainstorm') native speakers
occasionally do treat rain as if it were countable - especially in the plural: 'Do you remember the heavy rains of last summer?' (Compare with this version without the "of" - 'Do you remember the heavy rain last summer?' The uncountable version refers to the total amount of rainfall, whereas the countable one refers to a number of individual events.)

A non-native speaker, though, would be suspected of making a mistake. I'm sorry, but life's not fair like that (especially when you're speaking a foreign language )

So Joham's Oxford friends are right if they're native speakers, but either wrong or very advanced English-speakers if they're not.

b

PS Now I think of it, there's a third very similar version: 'Do you remember rain last summer?' [asked by someone who doubts if there was any].

[acorn]

Rain can be countable when it's short for rainfall/rainstorm, e.g.,
"During a heavy rain, the pipes may get too full and start to overflow...";
"There was a heavy rain in the spring of 1992."

What sounds strange about "there will be a heavy rain tomorrow" perhaps lies in the future tense -- the forecast of only one rainfall.

[joham]

Originally Posted by acorn

Rain can be countable when it's short for rainfall/rainstorm, e.g.,
"During a heavy rain, the pipes may get too full and start to overflow...";
"There was a heavy rain in the spring of 1992."

What sounds strange about "there will be a heavy rain tomorrow" perhaps lies in the future tense -- the forecast of only one rainfall.

Yes, this is what I wanted to say. How can people forecast 'a' heavy rain? I would think people only forecast 'heavy rain' meaning the amount of rain tomorrow, rather than one or two or more rainfalls. Am I right?

[Funk]

no need to use 'a' here

[BobK]

Originally Posted by Funk

no need to use 'a' here

Yes, no need.

But if a forecaster thinks there will be several short but heavy showers [total rainfall - 5 cm in the course of 24 hours], s/he would say 'there will be heavy rain tomorrow'. Whereas, if the forecast were for a single very heavy storm [total rainfall 5 cm in the course of half an hour] s/he might say any of these:

'There will be heavy rain tomorrow.'
'There will be a short but very heavy downpour tomorrow.'
or even (though purists may not like it)
'There will be a short rain tomorrow'.

b