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english questions

 
 
Reply Tue 5 Oct, 2004 05:22 pm
Hey all! Can anyone answer these simple English questions for me?

Why can't I say:

I get a little mail everyday?
Mail is a noncount noun and you can use little with noncount nouns so I'm confused!

Why can't I say 'I get too much mail everyday?'

Why can't I say-' I get a few letters everyday.' and 'I get too many letters everyday. I get several letters everyday and I get three letters everyday.

The book says these are all wrong. why?
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stuh505
 
  1  
Reply Tue 5 Oct, 2004 09:18 pm
Quote:
I get a little mail everyday?


little is an adjective that means the following noun is small in size.

the following noun is mail which is plural, so it cannot possibly be small in size.

if you changed this into the noun phrase "bit of mail" then it is now a quantity which the size adjective may be applied to.

I don't know about the others, they all look correct to me...
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stuh505
 
  1  
Reply Tue 5 Oct, 2004 09:23 pm
Perhaps it is because the formal definition for "everyday" is not the same as the phrase "every day"..."everyday" means the stereotypical day, whereas "every day" refers to each day in a set.
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Mister Micawber
 
  1  
Reply Wed 6 Oct, 2004 08:00 am
'Everyday' is an adjective. 'Every day' is a noun (+ adjective).
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