Subj : fuel
To   : Roy Witt
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Fri Mar 02 2018 18:00:57

Hi, Roy!  Recently you wrote in a message to alexander koryagin:

ak>>  As it is known, "fuel" is an uncountable noun. But
ak>>  is it true after "such"? Is it an error to write
ak>>  like this? My tongue puts "a" involuntary. ;)

Roy>  It can be written in this manner if you're comparing
Roy>  fuels.


         ... as I did in my reply, which I was about to post when I saw yours.
I appreciate knowing others share my perceptions if I'm trying to explain from
scratch *why* native speakers of English do what they do.  :-)

         You've given me another idea WRT how long this has been going on & in
what context as well.  Food = fuel for our bodies.  I thought I'd seen similar
examples in reading about nutrition, and sure enough...


              From the index of a Canadian home ec. textbook, 1932:

                    Fruits [followed by an itemized list]


              From a heading in the appendix of a US publication, with
              detailed charts analyzing the nutritional content, 1975:

                     Oils, Fats, and Shortenings



         Thankyou....  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

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