are the words sky, water, air etc (any word of the smae type...) countable?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
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[color=violet]are the words sky, water, air etc (any word of the smae type…) countable?

if yes, can i say “water(s)” “air(s)”?

2

Hi cornelius

Your nouns are non-countable

However, some non-countables become countables in some contexts(speech,a speech etc. )

But you can meet plural form of’waters’ in the following context:
1.having the meaning of the water in a particular river…etc, also mineral waters,medicinal waters:
2.the serous fluid in which the embryo is suspended inside the amnion (Example: “Before a woman gives birth her waters break”
onelook.com/?w=waters&ls=a

The word ‘airs’ stands for ‘affectation’, ‘mannerism’

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Hi Cornelius

Pamela (and OneLook) have given you some good examples – however I’d say that air and water are usually non-countable. In addition, I’ve only heard people say “Before a woman gives birth, her water breaks”.
Using the plural of “water” in that context appears to be strictly a British usage.

Sky is actually used as a plural noun fairly often:
Skies usually suggests the sky as seen from various locations rather than from just one:
dictionary.reference.com/search?q=skies&r=66

Amy

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Just to add and idiom: idioms.thefreedictionary.com/airs+and+graces

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Hi all,

I am very pleased to thank you all for raising up these tricky words. And I actually wanna put some much more light on the word “WATERS”. Here are some examples/usage I found:

  1. fish in troubled waters. “UK”
    to try to gain an advantage from a difficult situation or from someone else’s problems

  2. muddy the waters
    to make a situation more confused and less easy to understand or deal with

  3. pour oil on troubled waters UK
    to do or say something in order to make people stop arguing and become calmer:
    e.g: My husband’s always arguing with my father, and I’m the one who has to pour oil on troubled waters.

  4. Still waters run deep. “SAYING”
    said about a person who says little, but who might in fact know a lot

  5. test the water(s)
    to find out what people’s opinions of something are before you ask them to do something

(from Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)

Abintot
Baraa

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Yes, bara, one can find good idioms with the word ‘waters’ :slight_smile:

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generally these are not countable.

however, sometimes they sound nice when we make them so – we can say things like:

“Your eyes are the cannonball dive into the waters of my heart and my smile represents the gargantuan splash.”

oh my

note to self: Do not post anything after 5pm Central.

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bohahaha… have you said that to anyone ? hahahaha…

thanks all for your replies…