A poverty of imagination

[Haihao]

Hi,

[AbuseArt]

Doesn't it depend just on grammar? I think there's no need to consider their meaning as they should be always without articles. Because they are both uncountable(poverty, affection). Am I right?

[Jamie (K)]

I think the use of "a" in those expressions indicates that the characteristic is of a type unique to the individual.

When someone's work displays "a poverty of imagination", it generally means a certain type of poverty of imagination peculiar to that person or that work. You may even hear "a certain poverty of imagination". It's the same thing with "a great affection".

[AbuseArt]

Generally, they are uncountable. It's some specialized understanding of those words so they now became countable. I agree with you. The same thing happens with countable "money" in business.(Could you sum up those monies?)