"Count" and "Mass" nouns ??? I understand the terms, but will others who
are trying to track with (learn from) the discussion (since there are *both*
Profs and students interacting on the list. When you use "in vogue"
linguistic terms, I know I'd appreciate it if you'd define them the first
time you use them (sometimes, especially linguists use terms that we
aging Greek Profs have used for years in one way, in a totally different
way.).<<<
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The use of the terms "mass nouns" and "count nouns" is hardly "'in vogue'
linguistic term[inlogy]". These are standard terms, around for many, many
decades (I give as curious evidence the fact that my son, now in his early
forties and still living in Berkeley, was taught English in these terms
when he was in junior high school. Since the early 1960's, my Greek classes
included this key distinction. The meaning of several passages in Mark,
for example, hinge on realizing that ARTOS in Greek is a count noun, but
our usual English translation is "bread," a mass noun. Since it is so
central to grasping the differences between vocabulary in one language as
compared to that in another language, I suspect it should be taught within
the first three weeks of a Greek course. Prior to the formal use of this
distinction among nouns, I am sure all good teachers in effect taught the
reality of it as they went along (including, I strongly believe, Dale
himself).
Edward Hobbs