Timeline for use of article a before pain
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 19, 2015 at 17:01 | comment | added | John Lawler | The phenomenon of pain is an abstract mass noun; but individual instances of pain can be very countable, depending on the source. I get a pain in my neck when I turn to the left, for instance, is a perfectly normal and meaningful sentence. Many mental and physical sensations can be either generalized or individuated by context. Most nouns are not always either count or mass, no matter what the dictionary says; usage overrides. You can countify a mass noun or massify a count noun, just by using it in the right construction. | |
| May 19, 2015 at 13:01 | comment | added | RegDwigнt | How can you have a doubt? If you can have a doubt, then certainly you can have a pain. | |
| May 19, 2015 at 12:12 | answer | added | TimR | timeline score: 1 | |
| May 19, 2015 at 11:04 | review | First posts | |||
| May 19, 2015 at 12:07 | |||||
| May 19, 2015 at 11:02 | comment | added | Robusto | One can have many pains. Pain is both countable and uncountable, depending on what you mean. "A pain" is a single instance of pain. | |
| May 19, 2015 at 11:01 | history | asked | gouri | CC BY-SA 3.0 |