Грамматика для написания научных статей

Luggage has no plural form; the countable noun piece is used to indicate the number of items.

Note that even the uncountable nouns that end in -s in the list in item D such as diabetes and physics) are singular and uncountable.

Some countable nouns can be considered as countable or uncountable, depending on the context. Used as an uncountable noun, they refer to the concept in general; used as a countable noun, they refer to a particular one. Uncountable:

Chocolate is fattening. (All chocolate: generalization about a mass noun.)

Countable: He ate a chocolate. (One piece, one serving in a box of chocolates.) He ate four more chocolates.

Uncountable: Life is precious. (Generalization: life as a concept.)

Countable: She leads a busy life. (Specifically the type of life she leads is a busy one. It could be a boring life, a dangerous life, and so on.)

People say that a cat has nine lives.

Task 3. In the context of each of the following sentences, adapted from Panati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, indicate in the spaces after the nouns whether they are countable (C) or uncountable (U).

Levi Strauss came to California in the 1850s dining the Gold Rush to make clothes for the miners (-). He knew that they would wear out their clothes quickly, so he made them out of canvas (-), which was used at the time to make tents (-). Later he replaced the canvas with denim – a softer fabric (-) originating from the city of Nimes in (-) France. In Europe this fabric was known as “serge de Nimes" and because of the way (-) it was pronounced, it came to be known as denim in (-) America. Strauss began to dye the miners' pants blue so that stains would not show, and this color increased their popularity (-). To achieve a snug fit cowboys (-) would soak them in water (-), then put them on and lie in the sun to shrink the material (-) as it dried.

(Grammar Troublespots: 81)

E. Quantity words

Some quantity words can he used only with uncountable nouns, with countable singular nouns, or with countable plural nouns. Others can be used with both uncountable nouns and countable plural nouns. Refer to the following chart for correct usage.

Note the difference between few and a few, little and a little. Few and little have a negative connotation and mean hardly any or almost no. A few and it little are positive and mean some.

She has few friends. She has a few friends.

The difference between few and a few means that the two sentences above must be continued in different ways.

She has few friends, so she stays home most weekends.

She has a few friends, so she often goes out with them on weekends.

Use not with any. Use no and none alone.

Where are the screwdrivers? I don't have аnу. I have no screwdrivers. I have none.

In standard English, do not use two negative expressions in a clause,

He doesn't have no toots. He doesn't have none.

Task 4. The student who wrote the following paragraph made mistakes with nouns, plurals, and quantity words. Correct the errors.

My best Friend and I wanted to take another trips to Europe and africa, but we didn't have many money. When I saw my two ancient Suitcase, I knew it was lime to buy some new luggages. I looked in the windows of all the store in the center of Town. But all I saw was clothing. I tried on three dress, but і didn't buy one. At last. I saw a wonderful bag made of spanish leather, but it was very 'expensive and I didn't have no money. I decided to go shopping other day.

Task 5. Identify the sentences with a mistake and correct it.

1. A number of U.S. lecturers comes to our University next week.

2. Critically he studied the article on transgenic food products.

3. As the annual report of the Mesa Garden states, these cactuses grow exclusively in the northern parts of Mexico.

4. Either the journalist or the witness know the truth about this mysterious event.

5. Elaborated will be in this paper the model of corrosive destruction of metals under lacquer-paint coatings.

6. The teacher asked the students if they knew the health effects of insecticides.

7. The premises of the library is cleaned every day.

8. Twenty dollars are not enough to buy this book.

9. Many mathematical symposiums are held in Europe every year.

10. Bile acids contains significant amounts of cholesterol.

11. This extremely interesting new Ukrainian historical novel has been favorably reviewed.

12. In no ease the work on the project will be terminated.