“We should not make a noise.”
“Don’t make noise”
Are these sentences OK?
Should I not omit the article - ‘a’?
“We should not make a noise” is OK. Remember that in conversation contractions are almost always used, so normally one would say “We shouldn’t make a noise”.
“Don’t make noise” is grammatically possible but is normally not very natural. You would normally say “Don’t make a noise”.
Whether or not “noise” is countable or uncountable depends on context. In the above sentences it is normally countable, but in other cases, such as “noise is a nuisance” for example, it can be uncountable.
Interesting. There may be a BrE vs AmE difference at work here.
The sentence ‘Don’t make a noise’ (with the indefinite article ‘a’) strikes me as something that would be rarely, if ever used, and thus awkward. To me, it would be far more natural and common to say ‘Don’t make a sound’, for example.
However, the sentence without the article (‘Don’t make noise’) sounds natural to me, particularly if someone is annoyed. A more neutral version would be ‘Don’t make any noise’. Likewise, ‘We shouldn’t make any noise’ also strikes me as more natural than the version with the indefinite article.
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It seems strange to me using the “a” because I don’t think noise is countable. Either way I would rather say “We shouldn’t be noisy” haha
Possibly it is a British English thing, ‘…make a noise’ sounds natural to me too. (… make any noise’ also sounds natural).
Well, it seems there may be a disparity between BrE and AmE which I didn’t previously know existed, but certainly in BrE “noise” very much can be countable. It’s probably used countably at least as often as uncountably, if not more.
Have a look at this:
Results of your search from BNC
Your query was
a noise
Here is a random selection of 50 solutions from the 327 found.
A17 1564 If we made a noise somebody shouted at us.
A6T 2323 Tony sat it out — in my tent I feel obliged to tell him — listening for the noise of a train, a noise that meant the wind was coming up the defile between him and the sea.
A74 687 She does a little dance, making a noise like a trombone, then she bows and the hat falls off.
ACK 2280 I tried not to cringe when he chewed my left ear making a noise like a pig in a trough.
ACP 2446 One of our fellow primates, the two-foot-long lemur is vegetarian, monogamous, and makes a noise like a saxaphone.
B0P 229 No, don’t laugh; the carpet deadens the noise and vibration caused when objects are dropped, and believe me, a noise emanating from a punt is well magnified through the water.
B24 2088 There was always complaints coming in from the people who lived in the area about the gangs making a noise on the corner.
B7G 2466 To report from the front, there is now a gadget that can be fitted to your refrigerator that makes a noise like a pig every time the door is opened.
BNS 1592 Nor the samples that the postman has kindly left on the doorstep these last few years, thereby avoiding the abuse I was wont to hurl from the bedroom window at anything that made a noise before 8.30am.
C8P 977 The eels were making such a noise that all the other fishes started making a noise as well, which woke up the Loch Ness Monster’.
C9B 1025 And religion divorced from morality is like ‘sounding brass’’ good only making a noise and breaking heads.’
CA3 2061 The drunk was still raving and the elderly couple still seemed transfixed, but the punks were focused on her, their expressions fearful, and Lee saw that she, while gone, had made a noise, stopped things, alarmed them.
CBG 6406 ‘When the crowd really got behind us I had not heard a noise like it in seven years,’ said co-manager Alan Curbishley.
CE9 1047 The wind seemed to have dropped and everything seemed peaceful, when he was aware of a noise outside the box.
CEH 1217 There was a noise in her head that was making her dizzy so she whispered, ‘Thank you,’ and put the receiver down.
CH2 670 If you don’t make a noise, they won’t take any notice.
ECN 940 ‘We made a noise and ignored them.
EWC 1199 There was not a noise but seemed to tell of danger.
EWC 2069 His doe has a litter and she was making a noise over them rather like a robin in autumn.
FP6 793 If she does make a noise you probably won’t shoot her, and anyway there’s a chance she couldn’t make enough of a noise to be heard outside the front door; it’s a big house and although there are a lot of hard, sound-reflective surfaces in it, you’re not convinced a scream would make it all the way to whoever’s outside, either down the stairwell or through the double-glazed balcony windows.
FPB 1708 Just before midday, Clare heard a noise behind her.
FPF 3543 I stopped calling Leon’s name and felt unreasonably furtive, wished the dogs weren’t with me, they made such a noise.
FR6 2329 In the evening I sat by my fire, listening to the wind blowing outside, and had just started reading when I heard a noise.
FSB 392 That monster made a noise like this: ‘Hee-haw!’
FSE 571 Finally it was Alexei who made a noise, which might have indicated either disgust or anger, then brushed past.
FSJ 605 Suddenly, there was a noise of distant shouting, then a long horrible scream.
FSR 2026 Checking that the straps on her equipment were tight enough to prevent anything moving and making a noise that might alert anyone nearby, Ace slipped through a stand of bushes to get a better view of the road.
G16 1903 ‘No, the neighbour said she heard a noise and thought Minnie was being burgled so her son got through the window and let her in.
GY4 1094 Some people even leave radios on in the house, so that there’s not only the light on, but if somebody does walk up the drive intending to knock on the door to test it, before they get to the door they can hear a noise, they turn around and go back.
GY4 1205 Er they don’t particularly like to make a, a noise, but some, some do if it’s quick.
H0M 2199 I told her to forget this doctor nonsense and talk more reasonably about the oilman and his petrodollars and what he had her do In the dying moments she made a noise I’d never heard her make before, a rhythmical whimpering of abandonment or entreaty, a lost sound.
H92 3139 He made a noise that might have been a giggle in happier circumstances ‘…made me ill.
HA3 2625 Then came a noise with no hint of strangeness.
HA6 3680 ‘I tried not to make a noise, in case you were asleep.’
HGS 2097 A noise I recognized among the eternal wastes of silence.
HH0 3015 He shoved my shirt in my mouth first, so I wouldn’t make a noise.’
HHV 20244 He will be glad to know that we have set up a noise review working party and that one of the issues that it has been considering is traffic noise and how to deal with it more effectively.
HJC 1739 The little man made a noise in his throat and his glance leapt from Marcus to the three screws and back.
HJC 2525 I stepped on a twig which made a noise that seemed as loud as thunder and I ran back across to my hiding place.
HJH 153 There was something by the shady side of the wardrobe that made a noise.
JJW 522 Er yes, the door opener in fact was was put on wrongly erm by unfortunately P C and er as the pressure started to exert outwards erm it then found that there was no resistance and consequently all the pressure was being put outwards er and as such then the machine started to to make a noise erm which then we had to switch it off, turn it round, back on again and eventually gained access.
JY1 1900 ‘Don’t make a noise when you come in,’ Guthrie warned his son, and Travis uttered his adieux and went on his way.
K1B 1674 It’s pointless to make a noise.
K1X 1185 She heard Mrs Fribbens cry out, Don’t hit me, and then a noise which sounded like a punch.
KBH 5375 Ooh Amy such a noise.
KBH 5537 Mhm Right you going to sleep for ten minutes, no, what a noise.
KBX 638 lost something and I can’t, I can’t find it and I’m looking and I’m, and ee, and er, a bit of a noise or anything I’m looking backwards is coming and then I realize he’s not there any more to come and then other days I just feel like I’m dangling in the air and can see the, the ground and I can’t touch it with my feet, just somewhere right, right out, it’s not real, not real you know and then you go, you get back to with a bump and know that it’s real and then it just feels left, nothing else, you can’t help yourself in any other way.
KD3 2995 She’s alright yeah, well I, I bought her a book but it’s one of these, it’s like a talking book a Disney one, it’s got like a keyboard down the side and you press certain pads and it makes a noise and I thought oh rather than just getting an ordinary book, I thought that would be quite good
KD8 1397 But, I can hear that bang now, you never forget a noise like that!
KE6 10655 it was hot, it was dust in that hammer drill, god it makes a noise, it did, it certainly saved a lot though
Alan
Hi Dozy,
The word ‘noise’ is also used as a countable noun in AmE. As I mentioned in my post, however, the specific sentences used as examples struck me as awkward ways of using ‘noise’ countably. That’s why I also posted the sentences that I felt would be the more typical equivalents on this side of the pond (e.g. “Don’t make a sound” = “Be silent/very quiet”).
I’d say that ‘noise’ would normally be somewhat more defined, specific or concrete when used countably here. Even the addition of an adjective would make a difference. For example, saying something such as “He made an incredibly loud noise” is no problem. Or a countable usage of ‘noise’ might be followed by a relative clause: “I heard a noise that I could not identify”. I might also tell you, for example, that my cat makes a very specific noise whenever she sees a bug. She makes a stuttering squeaking noise that I think actually sounds more like a rodent than a cat. So, I guess you might say that these would be examples of ‘types’ of noise rather than just ‘noise’ in general.
The comments in my previous post addressed the OP’s sentences specifically (along with your comments on them). Although there are also plenty of ways to use ‘noise’ as a countable noun on this side of the pond, the usage in the original sentences strikes my American ear as unnatural.
So, tell me, in what sort of context would you expect to hear someone say “Don’t make a noise?” If you were to use that sentence, could/would you use ‘Don’t make a noise’ any time you wanted to tell someone to be extremely quiet?
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This seems more and more like a Br/US thing
Some examples:
Don’t make a noise. The baby’s asleep.
They’re coming, Let’s surprise them… don’t make a noise.
Don’t make a noise, I have a headache.
Don’t make a noise or they’ll know where we are.
Who’s making a noise?
Using ‘a’ or ‘any’ in all but the last of those sentences both sound natural.
I think the last example (the question) is far more likely to be common than ‘who’s making a sound?’
Hi,
There is a distinction between ‘noise’ and ‘sound’. ‘Sound’ is anything audible and ‘noise’ is both audible and intrusive. 'We didn’t make a sound when we came home late last night = we were extremely quiet. ‘Please don’t make a noise when you shut the door’ = shut the door quietly.
Alan