hello,
which one best?
Sorry to be late. I was delayed by _____."
a heavy traffic
heavy traffic
some heavy traffic
thanks
“Sorry to be late. I was delayed by heavy traffic.”
[size=75]-- David Beroff
[color=red]FREE English Videos, Private Lessons, and more at EnglishWithDavid.com !![/size]
Hello David, nice to see you again. I’d like to know if it is possible for me to say: Sorry to be late. I didn’t count on the heavy traffic.
Will it express the same meaning as “I was delayed by heavy traffic”. Does ‘count on the heavy traffice’ make sense? Many thanks.
Yes, they are both grammatically correct, and are reasonably equivalent.
A very slight distinction, (possibly too faint a difference for this forum, or maybe not), is on the matter of personal responsibility. “I was delayed by heavy traffic.”, is rather objective, and neutral when it comes to responsibility. “I didn’t count on the heavy traffic.”, is perfectly correct grammatically, but there’s a whiff of one not being sufficiently prepared, say, by leaving earlier so as to account for the possibility of said traffic. Perhaps I’m a bit too sensitive here, seeing as I just left a driving job where every single minute was carefully measured and documented, but in general I tend to listen to people and try to figure out what they really mean. Many (but not all) Americans would rather make excuses when it comes to being on time, instead of simply leaving themselves enough time to always arrive early in the first place. (IMHO)
Whew! I’m sure you didn’t want that whole tangent! :lol:
(Sorry if I got the punctuation wrong near the quotation marks. I remember long arguments with my own English teachers on “correct” placement being counter to logic, but of course, they always won. 
)
[size=75]-- David Beroff
[color=red]FREE English Videos, Private Lessons, and more at EnglishWithDavid.com !![/size]
Thank you for such detailed explanations, David. Now I can feel the slight difference between the two expressions.
P.S. I clicked on the link below each of your post and tried to register to be a member of your club(could I say register on your site?). But after I clicked on the join the club button, an error occurred. The error message is: Some required fields are missing. I don’t know why and what to do next. Similar things happened to Gray, he has already registered but failed to confirm it.
You’re welcome, and thank you for trying to register, Infin1ty. (Yes, either form of using “register” is correct.)
Wow; I didn’t know I had a problem. Thank you for letting me know!
I do see Gray’s request, and you are right that it is not yet confirmed.
I do not receive notification of when someone attempts to subscribe but does not succeed. I just tested the form again, and, to me, it seems that the only time that that error appears is when a good email address is not provided. Perhaps you accidentally mistyped yours, or maybe AWeber does not like your email service provider? 
If you don’t want to give your email address here, please send me the name and email address, (that you used), to me directly: David (at) Beroff (dot) com . (It’s better to not post your email address here in a public forum, so as to avoid the spam robots.) Similarly, if Gray could also please do the same, using the first name and email address that s/he attempted, I could look into this further.
Again, thank you for your help and interest!
[size=75]-- David Beroff
[color=red]FREE English Videos, Private Lessons, and more at EnglishWithDavid.com !![/size]
hello david,
i need know why? i will take test vey soon ,so I want a rule.
many thanks
Hrmm. I’m sorry, but I don’t really know a rule. I’m thinking, and I can’t even determine if “traffic” is singular or plural, without looking it up. This is just the way I learned that particular word, and I don’t recall any rule.
[size=75]-- David Beroff
[color=red]FREE English Videos, Private Lessons, and more at EnglishWithDavid.com !![/size]
Traffic is an uncountable noun. Uncountable nouns refer to things that we cannot count (milk, gold, freedom, poverty). Such nouns take only singular form.
Uncountable nouns never take the indefinite article (a or an), but they do take singular verbs. The is sometimes used with uncountable nouns in the same way it is used with plural countable nouns, that is, to refer to a specific object, group, or idea.
Information is a precious commodity in our computerized world.
The information in your files is correct.
Sugar has become more expensive recently.
Please pass me the sugar.
owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/ … ount2.html
Excellent!! I learn something new every day. Thank you, Milanya!
[size=75]-- David Beroff
[color=red]FREE English Videos, Private Lessons, and more at EnglishWithDavid.com !![/size]
many thanks
hi,
i found this sentance ,so I confused with it
5. The theater performance _____.
succeed
successful
was success
x was a success
the last is best. why?
[color=red]I found this sent[color=red]ence, and I [color=red]am confused with it. [color=red]The last is [color=red]the best. [color=red]Why? (I just adore languge conventions)
5. The theater performance _____.
succeed- [color=blue]3rd person singular requres -s- at the end “suceeds” -this one is grammatically incorrect.
successful - [color=blue]no verb - grammatically incorrect.
was success - [color=blue]no article - grammatically incorrect.
x was a success - [color=green]grammatically correct and makes sense. Both, a verb and an article, are present. This one is right.
Milanya, you continue to amaze me. You leave us wallowing in your dust with the speed and accuracy of your replies.
David, your explanation about the delay excuse was very good. Are you SURE you haven’t a little bit of English in you.? LOL.
LOL!
[size=75]-- David Beroff
[color=red]FREE English Videos, Private Lessons, and more at EnglishWithDavid.com !![/size]
Sorry for my “intrusion” 
Thanks everybody for such informative answers, and yet I have another question to Milanya. You stated that “uncountable nouns never take the indefinite article (a or an), but they do take singular verbs”. However, are there exceptional situations when uncountable nouns take the indefinite article? For instance, “the theater performance was a success”. Isn’t the noun “success” uncountable? Then why does it take the indefinite article (a)? I do feel that such a sentence sounds grammatically correct, however I’m still confused. Would you be so kind to shed light upon my “problem”?
Thanks in advance
Isn’t the noun “success” uncountable?
No, it is not. At least, not in this context.
The first performance was a success, but the next one was not. The theater had one success and one failure.
If you can put a number before a noun, it is a countable noun.
Hi Ly Chyan,
There are some nouns that can be both countable and uncountable. ‘Success’ is one of those words. Look at these two sentences:
1 She wanted to complete her objective and she did this when she passed all her exams and to her this meant success. (In that sentence the word is uncountable)
2 The play attracted immediate support and filled the theatre every night. The critics claimed it was a success. (In that sentence the word is countable.)
Take another word - ‘failure’.
1 You have to accept failure at one stage in your life. (Here the word is uncountable.)
2 He failed all his exams and he regarded himself as a failure. (Here the word is countable.)
I hope that helps.
Alan
Thank you both a lot!
Dear Alan,
I think your explanation perfectly explains to me (Is it possible for me to say something explains to me?) why ‘make a success’ makes sense, which has confused me for a long time. I used to think that ‘a’ should not be used before ‘success’ for ‘success’ is a abstract noun. Thank you. 