most of the + noun/ most of + noun

[SirGod]

I helped a friend of mine with his essay. He told me that he only had one mistake, here is the excerpt:

"... because most accidents happen during the winter..."

His teacher added "of":

"... because most of accidents happen during the winter..."

I don't know if that's possible. If it is, it cannot be very common.

I don't think I have ever heard it without "the":

"... because most of the accidents happen during the winter..."

I know that the construction "most of + noun" is possible, but is it correct in this particular context?

 

[doodles]

"most accidents" or "most of the accidents" are both okay but not "most of accidents"

 

[Rover_KE]

"... because most accidents happen during the winter..." is perfectly correct and it's quite wrong to add of.

You can say "... because most of the accidents happen during the winter..." if you are referring to specific accidents mentioned earlier.

I know that the construction "most of + noun" is possible. . .

Is it? I'm struggling to make up a sentence with that construction.

Rover

 

[5jj]

Is it? I'm struggling to make up a sentence with that construction.

I'm glad you said that. I thought I was missing something embarrassingly obvious.

 

[bhaisahab]

I'm glad you said that. I thought I was missing something embarrassingly obvious.

Me too.

 

[SirGod]

Needless to say, I was obviously wrong. When I wrote that I was probably thinking about pronouns. But I also found "most of America", "most of society", "most of Congress".

Edit: Smilie removed.

 

[5jj]

Needless to say, I was obviously wrong. When I wrote that I was probably thinking about pronouns. But I also found "most of America", "most of society", "most of Congress".

No, you were not obviously wrong, as your findings prove. So, remove the .

 

[Raymott]

Needless to say, I was obviously wrong. When I wrote that I was probably thinking about pronouns. But I also found "most of America", "most of society", "most of Congress".

Well doesn't that make you right? What's the point of coming up with examples that prove your claim, and simultaneously saying that you were obviously wrong.

In fact, the problem lies in a technicality. Your claim: "I know that the construction "most of + noun" is possible" is ambiguous. Most nouns do not allow "most of" to come directly before them. But strictly, yes, it is possible to make a grammatical construction with "most of" + a noun, as you've shown.

I'd have to award you the point.

 

[SirGod]

Yes, now I am really embarrassed, I don't really know why I wrote it that way, I was confused. Maybe just because I wasn't sure about it (maybe there was something wrong with the examples, something that is beyond my ken).

 

[5jj]

Yes, now I am really embarrassed.

SirGod, stop being embarrassed. You were aware of something that some of us had forgotten. So, one point for knowing it, a second point for knowing it as a non-native speaker, and a third point because we couldn't think of it. Award yourself a pat on the back.

 

[emsr2d2]

Most of England is under water.
Most of Spain is difficult if you're vegetarian.
Most of Saturn is made of gas.

As far as I can tell, we only put "most of" without the article before proper nouns and the occasional collective noun like "society", as SirGod said.

I can't think of a way to put it in front of a standard common noun.