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 Thu Jan 03, 2008 0:00 am Usage of the word news (It's a terrible news vs. It's terrible news) |
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"News" is an uncountable noun, so we can never say "a news", and you can't use a plural verb with the word.
You can say, "This is a terrible piece of news." |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4337
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:34 am Usage of the word news (It's a terrible news vs. It's terrible news) |
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| Jamie (K) wrote: | "News" is an uncountable noun, so we can never say "a news", and you can't use a plural verb with the word.
You can say, "This is a terrible piece of news." |
Dear Jamie,
Thanks for your answer again.
So we always have to add ' a piece of'? There is no way to avoid it?
e.g.: 'It's terrible news' - is not correct at all?
thanks |
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Liza
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 20 Feb 2007
Posts: 101
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| Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:59 pm Usage of the word news (It's a terrible news vs. It's terrible news) |
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| Liza wrote: | So we always have to add ' a piece of'? There is no way to avoid it?
e.g.: 'It's terrible news' - is not correct at all? |
"It's terrible news," is perfectly correct, and we say it most of the time. However, many foreigners feel a need to refer to one specific item of news, but it's ungrammatical to say "a news". In those situations we have to say "piece of news". |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4337
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| Thu Jan 03, 2008 14:58 pm Usage of the word news (It's a terrible news vs. It's terrible news) |
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Just as a summary for what Jamie has already written, here are some direct responses to your original questions (inside the quote):
| Liza wrote: | Can we say this? It's a terrible news. No
or we must say: It's terrible news. Yes
or: These are terrible news. No (with plural, even if I'm thinking of just one piece of news).
But you can say "This/that is terrible news".
You can also say "a little bit of news", "some news", "a lot of news", "not much news", "any news".
You cannot say "many news".
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English |
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Yankee
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Location: USA
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