[Grammar] How many chocolates did you get?

[emp0608]

Hi folks,

Most Japanese women still keep the unique Japanese tradition of giving chocolate to their male friends on the Valentine’s Day. (I got a little box of chocolate from one of my female students; lucky me!) So Japanese men tend to compete with their male friends for the number of chocolate gifts they get from their female friends. In that situation, can we say, ”How many chocolates did you get this year?” Personally, I don’t want to use the word ‘chocolate’ as a countable noun.

Thanks as always,

emp0608

 

[GoesStation]

"One chocolate" is a single piece of chocolate, usually formed into a bite-sized treat. The quoted sentence works only if the tradition is to give each man a single piece of chocolate. Otherwise, you could ask "How much chocolate did you get?" but this would lose any information about how many admirers you have. If you want to include the latter, you need to say something more complicated like "How many women gave you chocolate?"

 

[Tdol]

You could ask how many boxes of chocolate they got.

 

[SoothingDave]

"on Valentine's Day," not "on the Valentine's Day."

 

[emp0608]

Thanks, but the chocolate gifts we get are not always in a box.

 

[emp0608]

"on Valentine's Day," not "on the Valentine's Day."

Thanks, I noticed that but it was too late.

 

[emsr2d2]

Personally, I don’t want to use the word ‘chocolate’ as a countable noun.

Thanks, but the chocolate gifts we get are not always in a box.

Given your two points above, you could say "How much chocolate did you get?" That uses "chocolate" uncountably.

 

[emp0608]

Thanks, but you could get tons of chocolate from just one person. The point here is the competition among men about how popular they are among female friends.

 

[Rover_KE]

Then ask 'How many women sent you chocolates this year?'

 

[emp0608]

Is the plural form OK?

 

[emp0608]

I guess I’ll have to settle for something along the lines of “How many women gave you chocolate this year?”

 

[Rover_KE]

I'd settle for getting anything on Valentine's Day.:-(

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm a bit confused about the tradition. You said that Japanese women give chocolates to their male friends on Valentine's Day. You didn't say that they had to have a romantic interest in those friends. On that basis, the amount of chocolate a man receives is an indication only of how many female friends he has, not how many admirers he has.

 

[Tdol]

They don't have to have a romantic interest- they're expected to give some to people like bosses.

 

[emsr2d2]

Apologies. I thought it was the OP who mentioned admirers but it was actually GoesStation in post #2. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[emp0608]

You could refer to the following website:
https://us.jnto.go.jp/blog/valentines-day-white-day-in-japan/

 

[Rover_KE]

Thank you, but can you see how useful that link would have been to us in post #1 rather than #17?

 

[emp0608]

Thank you, but can you see how useful that link would have been to us in post #1 rather than #17?

I don’t get what you mean. In that site, ‘chocolate’ is used as a countable noun, like “giving chocolates”, which I still don’t like. I just wanted to know what you guys thought about it.

 

[TheParser]

Hi folks,

In that situation, can we say, ”How many chocolates did you get this year?” Personally, I don’t want to use the word ‘chocolate’ as a countable noun.

NOT A TEACHER


Hello, emp0608:

1. Thank you for introducing that custom to us.

2. I have found on the Web an (illustrated) article in which that custom is discussed (along with two examples of "chocolate" being used as a count noun).

3. Please google these words: Japanese women challenge Valentine's Day tradition of giving chocolate to male coworkers.

 

[emsr2d2]

I think The Parser was trying to direct you to this article.

One day, The Parser will shock us all by posting a link! ;-)