English question about singular countable nouns and countable nouns?

Uncountable abstract nouns can be used as countable nouns in the partitive, which is used to denote a subset of something. “A knowledge of English” is the partitive. It means “a kind or subset of knowledge”. Also:
He felt a happiness that he had never felt before. (a kind of happiness)
A love like this can only come along once. (this kind of love)

Whether a noun is countable has nothing to do with whether you can measure it. It is just a grammatical property.

I think life and work can be countable (taking the indefinite article) or uncountable, depending on context. In “Life is a struggle.” the word life is uncountable, referring to the unique shared human experience, synonymous with “being alive.” This is distinct from “a life of misery” where one of a countable number (of other lives) is specified.

In the same way “work” is uncountable in the sense of “the act of working,” the unique shared human experience, synonymous with “doing work.”

In other words, there are distinct senses of life & work, probably numbered differently in the dictionary, that require varying usage (use of indefinite article, for instance).

“Knowledge” is similar. “Knowledge is power” uses uncountable abstract nouns, whereas “Mountaineering requires a knowledge of first-aid” uses knowledge in a countable sense, one of many possible instances of knowledge.

I think that correct usage will come with repeatedly hearing and reading these words in context.

Fruit can be both, I guess. The terms “countable’ and “uncountable are unfamiliar to me

Normally it is a singular noun.

Give me some fruit. (Two bananas or three apples or twenty-seven grapes.)

Give me a piece of fruit (another idiom).

Bring back some fruit from the store.

The fruit that I bought yesterday was overripe.

The fruit in this basket is all organic.

I have fruit for breakfast every morning.

As an idiom, it can be plural, most commonly as “the fruits of my labors,” which means the reward for my hard work.

@morphail : Thanks for the explanation. ”Uncountable abstract nouns can be used as countable nouns in the partitive, which is used to denote a subset of something.”

What about this sentence:

I need information and advice.

I think we can’t use these nouns as countable.
Saying above sentence with articles would be – I need an information and an advice.

Both are uncountable nouns. Is “information” or “advice” a particular kind of information or advice?

@gasman: I think this cannot be applied to all uncountable nouns like water, progress, etc.
We can’t say “a very good progress” instead “very good progress”.

@gailcalled : Thanks for the detailed explanation.

@misty123 Right – it varies from word to word whether both senses are used. Native speakers instinctively know which ones, but it’s a bit harder for ESL.

@misty123 I’m not sure what you’re asking. “information” and “advice” are usually uncountable as far as I know.

@morphail :Yes, they are. But, we cannot use them as countable nouns the way you have used happiness and love. We cannot say “an information” or “an advice”, but we can say “a happiness” or “a love”.

@gasman : I think I need to read and hear more examples to understand the concepts clearly.

@misty123 Yes, you’re right.

@morphail : Do you know any rule to determine whether an indefinite article before an abstract noun is required or not?

Here’s an interesting quote that I have always liked, from Jean Jacques Rousseau.

Les fruits sont å tous et la terre n’est å personne.

The fruits of the earth belong to everyone and the land to no one.

@gailcalled :Good quote indeed. Fruits not fruit. :)

Exactly.

@misty123 let me rephrase your question: how do you know when you can use an abstract uncountable noun as a partitive countable noun?

I don’t know. I think it is something you will become for familiar with as you read more. I see that the examples I gave deal with feelings and emotions. Maybe it has something to do with that.

I think it’s quite difficult to understand. I just found an interesting link about the usage of nouns.
Degree….......... Example…....................... Permitted Determiners
I….....................equipment…..............................NONE
IIa…..................knowledge…................................a
IIb…...................clothes….....................................many, few
III…....................cattle….......................................many, few, and relatively large round numbers
IV…....................police…......................................ALL EXCEPT those listed below*
V….....................dog….........................................ALL

*this, that, a, another, either, neither, each, much, less, a little, every, little, one
(Rodney Huddleston, Introduction to the Grammar of English.)

On page number 245, Huddleston gives a list of determiners at (22) that includes “etc.”, so it turns out he hasn’t listed every possibility in his chart.

It’s really helpful. The example shown for “equipment” makes me confused. From the chart, the noun equipment is an uncountable noun and it does not take any determiner. But, in the given examples it is seen that he has used “a good equipment” Shouldn’t it be “some” or “any” equipment. Maybe I am wrong.

@misty123 The examples are proceeded by asterisks (*) which means they are not grammatical. So ”*a good equipment”, ”*the few outskirts”, ”*two clothes”, etc are not permitted in English grammar.

This book is written for linguists, not ESL students. (I assume you’re an ESL student?)

@morphail Oh, I thought it was used as a correct example. I understood now.
Thanks.