A / delicious food.

[ratóncolorao]

Hello,

I would like to know if the following sentences are both correct:

I am eating a delicious food.

I ate delicious food for dinner yesterday.

Thank you very much.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hello,

I would like to know if the following sentences are both correct:

I am eating a delicious food. :cross:

I ate delicious food for dinner yesterday. :tick:


Thank you very much.

See above. It is not completely impossible to describe something as "a delicious food" but it doesn't work in your sentence. It's not really necessary to say that you ate food - generally that is what human beings eat. "I had/ate a delicious dinner last night" is sufficient.

 

[Odessa Dawn]

​

So, it is a universal rule not to say/write:

I eat food.

I ate food.

I had food.

But you can say/write:

I ate/had rice and chicken hours/minutes ago, for example.


I would like to thank you, ems, for bringing this rule to light.
​

 

[emsr2d2]

​

So, it is a universal rule not to say/write:

I eat food.

I ate food.

I had food.

But you can say/write:

I ate/had rice and chicken hours/minutes ago, for example.


I would like to thank you, ems, for bringing this rule to light.
​

Please point out exactly where I said the words "universal rule" or that we don't say "I eat/ate/had food". You have a strange habit of reading things into our posts, which we didn't write.

 

[Tdol]

Also, try not to think in such stark terms as universal rules- you can find so many exceptions that it is not easy to state that something is 100% true in all contexts. However, in the case the issue was the use of the indefinite article that was the problem, though that too is not a universal rule.

 

[5jj]

Just in case ems's message was not clear enough, it is not a universal rule that we should not say/write: I eat food, etc.

 

[Odessa Dawn]

​

Please note that I have no a strange habit reading your insightful replies, but poor education in my native country lead me to stupidity. I wish I were ignorant rather than stupid. Yes, we have three types of ignorance, and I am proud of being in the third and final state of ignorance which is enlightenment. In other words, I have started looking for knowledge depending on myself not regular classes in schools since some of their materials/curricula corrupted my mind. And the outcome is as you see, not being able to read even a few sentences.

Regarding your great and interesting question, if I didn’t post my comment and made a big mistake by keeping silent, I wouldn’t learn that I was mistaken, stupid, least educated, and the list is too long. I hope you forgive me for such a stupid comment, and I assure you that I will be more aware of your posts. Thank you so very much, ems.
​

 

[Tdol]

Forgive? There's nothing to forgive- we're just expressing views. Sorry if we have made you feel a need to apologise. :up:

 

[probus]

I'm not sure I entirely agree with emsr2d2's disapproval of "I am eating a delicious food." It sounds unnatural only because it is lacking a smidgen of additional detail. Who could object to:

I am eating a delicious new food. Or:

I am eating a delicious food that few people know about.

Personally, I would be willing to forgo the absence of the smidgen and accept it as a correct sentence, although not one likely to be uttered by a native speaker.

 

[Tdol]

But the smidgeon is key- I don't think anyone here is suggesting that you cannot use a food in some contexts, but the problem is this one.