[General] "What luck/nonsense!" vs "What a luck/nonsense!" which is correct?

[drps4]

"What luck/nonsense!" vs "What a luck/nonsense!" which is correct?

I'm reading Practical English usage, and I had came up with question about "What luck" in article section.
May be I'm wrong, but "What luck/nonsense" doesn't sound natural to me. Is this correct?.

 

[Tarheel]

Re: "What luck/nonsense!" vs "What a luck/nonsense!" which is correct?

Luck and nonsense are two very different things. You might say "What luck!" if somebody found a twenty-dollar bill. You might say "What nonsense!" if somebody said something, well, nonsensical.

 

[TheParser]

Re: "What luck/nonsense!" vs "What a luck/nonsense!" which is correct?

"What nonsense" doesn't sound natural to me.

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

Hello, Drps:


I am 99.99% confident that here in the United States of America, native speakers would say something like: "They say that James would make a good manager. What nonsense!" That is absolutely "natural."

In other words, "nonsense" is NOT a countable noun.

A few years ago, however, I was absolutely shocked when I discovered that in some varieties of English, it IS used as a countable noun.

When you get time, just do some googling, and you will discover that some people do, indeed, find "a nonsense" to be more "natural."

Here, for example, is the beginning of a paragraph in the Daily Mail (a British newspaper): "What a nonsense. What a total farce. What an absolute waste of money." [All emphasis is mine.]

My respectful advice: If you are dealing with Americans, do not use "a" with the noun "nonsense."



James

 

[drps4]

Re: "What luck/nonsense!" vs "What a luck/nonsense!" which is correct?

Okay, if I google them, I get 665,000 results of "What luck" and 1,990,000 results of "What a luck" which make me think that "What a luck" is more appropriate. Again, I'm English learner in USA so, I may wrong.

 

[bhaisahab]

Re: "What luck/nonsense!" vs "What a luck/nonsense!" which is correct?

You are wrong.

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: "What luck/nonsense!" vs "What a luck/nonsense!" which is correct?

"Luck" is uncountable so it doesn't take the article.