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Usage of the word news (It's a terrible news vs. It's terrible news)



 
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ESL Forums | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
Teaching English (pronunciation problem) | Difficult preposition "under"
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Usage of the word news (It's a terrible news vs. It's terrible news) Wed Jan 02, 2008 18:05 pm  Usage of the word news (It's a terrible news vs. It's terrible news)
 

Hi,

Can we say this? It's a terrible news.

or we must say: It's terrible news.

or: These are terrible news. (with plural, even if I'm thinking of just one piece of news).

thanks
Liza
I'm here quite often ;-)


Joined: 20 Feb 2007
Posts: 101

Usage of the word news (It's a terrible news vs. It's terrible news) Thu Jan 03, 2008 0:00 am  Usage of the word news (It's a terrible news vs. It's terrible news)
 

"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."
Jamie (K)
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Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4337
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA

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Usage of the word news (It's a terrible news vs. It's terrible news) Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:34 am  Usage of the word news (It's a terrible news vs. It's terrible news)
 

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
Liza
I'm here quite often ;-)


Joined: 20 Feb 2007
Posts: 101

Usage of the word news (It's a terrible news vs. It's terrible news) Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:59 pm  Usage of the word news (It's a terrible news vs. It's terrible news)
 

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".
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4337
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA

Usage of the word news (It's a terrible news vs. It's terrible news) Thu Jan 03, 2008 14:58 pm  Usage of the word news (It's a terrible news vs. It's terrible news)
 

.
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
Yankee
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Joined: 16 Apr 2006
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