[Grammar] I got a question.

[emphasis00]

Hi.
While reading a book, I got a question.

"I tried to feel something like excitement but came up only with a morose unease."

In this sentence, I have no idea how "a morose unease" was used.

I looked up a dictionary and the definition of unease says that it is uncountable.

I would appreciate if someone gives me an answer.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Tdol]

When a word is given as uncountable in a dictionary, it doesn't mean that it can never be used countably in any sentence. Countable/uncountable are general descriptions of the normal behaviour of the word. I would imagine that the writer uses the article to suggest that the emotion that they felt wasn't particularly satisfying, possibly a bit strange or artificial. When a feeling is related to a particular time or set of circumstances, you may find uncountable feelings taking an article- I felt a great happiness when I heard they had been rescued.

 

[oldbei]

Not a teacher

I would appreciate if someone gives me an answer.

What a serious offence! You have used a transitive verb as an intransitive one! :lol:

Here is a better version: I would appreciate it if someone could give me an answer.

 

[Rover_KE]

oldbei, please read this extract from the forum rules:

You are welcome to answer questions posted in the Ask a Teacher forum as long as your suggestions, help, and advice reflect a good understanding of the English language. If you are not a teacher, you will need to state that clearly in your post.

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, Emphasis:

You (and I) have already received the answer to your excellent question.

I just wanted to share something that may interest you.

Please study these sentences that I found in the "books" section of Google:

1. "We cycle through many states each day without consciously thinking about it other than having a vague sense of unease, followed by ease again." -- Changing with NLP (2004) by Lewis Walker.

2. "Their concerns about it seem to tap into a widespread sense of unease about democratic accountability." -- The Politics of Globalization (2003) by Mark R. Brawley.

3. "Some critics have expressed a general sense of unease with the state of econometrics." -- Putting Econometrics in Its Place (2006) by G.M.P. Swann.


*****

May I respectfully suggest that you title your threads with a more exact question? "I got a question" is too general. If you had written something like "A morose unease," you might have gotten faster and more replies.

 

[oldbei]

In "a sense of unease," the word "unease" is used as an uncountable noun, is it not? Similar usages are "a glass of wine," "a bottle of water," and so on.

 

[Tdol]

I agree, but the OP's example is countable, though it would only exist in the singular- it would be hard to find a context where someone could feel [strike]two morose uneases[/strike].

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


TO: Emphasis

This is what a very reliable (and popular) book tells us (I have emphasized certain parts):

"With certain uncountable nouns -- especially nouns referring to human emotions and mental activity -- we have to use a / an when we are limiting their meaning in some way."

The author gives this sentence: "She has always had a deep distrust of strangers."

(Only my comments: Can we agree the uncountable noun "distrust" refers to "human emotions"? Can we agree that the word "deep" limits "distrust"?)


Source: Michael Swan, Practical English Usage (1995 edition), entry 148.6 on page 139. Published by the Oxford University Press.

*********************

TO: Oldbei

I found something that may interest you.

One scholar gives this phrase "Three bags of wool," which he parses like this:

Three = quantifier.
bags = classifier / counter. The classifier or counter is itself a countable noun.
of wool = a prepositional phrase that complements [modifies] the head noun [bags].

As you know, "wool" is listed as uncountable, but in such sentences as just given, it becomes a count noun.

Here is another of his examples:

a. Have a glass of mango juice. (count)
b. The glass they used for the window is tinted. (uncounted)


Source: Roderick A. Jacobs, English Syntax / A Grammar for English Language Professionals (1995), pages 113 and 332. Published by the Oxford University Press.