"such" vs. "such a" before countable and unountable nouns

[Torsten]

Hi,

Could you please take a look at the following sentence:

You might question the value of such detailed explanation, but I have a purpose and that purpose is to...

Now, I can somehow feel why the article "a" was omitted after "such" but can't quite explain it. I mean, we could also say "such a detailed explanation". I came across this sentence in a book that was written about 80 years ago, maybe omitting "a" in this construction was a question of style back then too?

Thanks for shedding some light on this.
Torsten

TOEIC listening, photographs: A small girl with a basket

[Alan]

Hi Torsten,

I don't know about 80 years ago but I do know in the area where I have my being, it is becoming more and more the fashion in spoken English to omit the indefinite article before a noun that's qualified. People talk about having 'terrible experience' 'she was 'very famous actress'. I remember raising this point in a forum some time ago and the American cohort figuratively raised their collective hands in horror at the very idea.

Another thought occurs to me is that in your sentence 'explanation' almost takes on the meaning and sense of a verb, which might make this omission a little more palatable.

Alan
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[Yankee]

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The word 'explanation' is used both as a countable and an uncountable noun. There's nothing particularly unusual about using the word 'explanation' as an uncountable noun. I'd suggest that the author possibly didn't see the explanation (referred to above) as a single entity, but rather as a collection of detailed parts -- all of which possibly served to explain a single topic.
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