2

In this question I wrote the following sentence, knowing full well that it has problems.

Where I live right now there is plenty of rice, earthquakes and typhoons.

Both earthquake and typhoon are countable nouns, while rice in this context is probably considered uncountable.

I could split this up into two sentences, or separate the rice from the other two within the sentence, for example: Where I live right now there are plenty of earthquakes and typhoons to go along with the rice although I'm sure someone else could find a more graceful way to do it.

There are some possibly helpful recommendations in this answer but I'm not sure how to apply them here.

But here I am asking if there is a way that I can keep the three nouns as close together as possible.

Improve this question
6
  • 1
    Related: Mixing plural and singular list items with a single verb, uncountable noun + and + uncountable noun, “There Is”/“There are” depends on plurality of the first list element or not?
    – herisson
    Commented Aug 24, 2017 at 10:18
  • 2
    Since there's a dichotomy between the positive (lots of rice) and negative (natural disasters) aspects, perhaps: "Where I live right now there is plenty of rice, but also many earthquakes and typhoons."
    – TripeHound
    Commented Aug 24, 2017 at 11:50
  • @TripeHound that's a good idea, and while written like that it makes my sentence look worse, that's because of the sentence itself. I might keep plenty in the second half as well for consistency; there is plenty of X, but plenty of Y and Z as well.
    – uhoh
    Commented Aug 24, 2017 at 12:33
  • 2
    Where I live we certainly have enough rice, and typhoons, and earthquakes... In some cases more than enough.
    – Jim
    Commented Aug 24, 2017 at 16:40
  • Juxtaposing rice with natural disasters is incongruous, so this only works in a quirky register. Is that intended, or can you provide a different example where unnaturalness due to quirkiness isn't a complicating factor? / A simple rewrite ( 'Where I live right now, we have plenty of rice, earthquakes and typhoons.') retains the wryness and colloquial flavour.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Aug 26, 2017 at 10:25

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

The OP asks: “But here I am asking if there is a way that I can keep the three nouns as close together as possible”

One sentence.

Earthquakes and typhoons are as plentiful as rice where I live.

Improve this answer
4
  • I've got to just accept this because it is exactly what I am looking for! You've solved my grammatical problem and also found a much better way to express what I wanted to at the same time, and so I've made the change in the original location. Thank you!
    – uhoh
    Commented Aug 24, 2017 at 15:55
  • 1
    @uhoh that was unexpected. Thank you for vote of confidence. I see you posted over 7 hours ago, so you must have been feeling slightly frustrated. Well, you never know someone else might post a better answer. If they do, feel free to accept theirs.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Aug 24, 2017 at 15:58
  • 1
    @uhoh you could swap the order, "Rice is as plentiful as the earthquakes and typhoons where I live". I've only just read your post on SE Seasoned Advice.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Aug 24, 2017 at 16:02
  • We often have a typhoon and an earthquake three times in a single day? This has to be in a marked (quirky) register.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Aug 26, 2017 at 10:21

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.