Joern Matthias
Junior Member
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2008
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- German
- Home Country
- Germany
- Current Location
- Germany
Hi everybody,
I hope that all of you are fine.
Here is my query:
'You only have one health, so look after yourself.'
What strikes me in this sentence is that the word 'health' is preceded by 'one'.
'health' is an uncountable word, which normally cannot be modified by numbers
such as one or two. Why is this possible here? Is this due to the word 'only' or because
the whole sentence is a common phrase or expression?
Could I respond, 'Don't you worry. I have two healths.', meaning more than one health,
which sounds even more strange to my ears.
Greetings from Germany,
Joern
I hope that all of you are fine.
Here is my query:
'You only have one health, so look after yourself.'
What strikes me in this sentence is that the word 'health' is preceded by 'one'.
'health' is an uncountable word, which normally cannot be modified by numbers
such as one or two. Why is this possible here? Is this due to the word 'only' or because
the whole sentence is a common phrase or expression?
Could I respond, 'Don't you worry. I have two healths.', meaning more than one health,
which sounds even more strange to my ears.
Greetings from Germany,
Joern