Single Idea 12847

[catalogued under 7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 8. Stuff / a. Pure stuff]

Full Idea

Syntactic criteria for mass nouns include that they admit 'much' and 'a little', and resist 'many' and 'few'.

Gist of Idea

Mass nouns admit 'much' and 'a little', and resist 'many' and 'few'.

Source

Peter Simons (Parts [1987], 4.6)

Book Reference

Simons,Peter: 'Parts: a Study in Ontology' [OUP 1987], p.154


A Reaction

That is, they don't seem to be countable. Sortal terms are those which pick out countables.