Hi,
Can we say this? It’s a terrible news.
or we must say: It’s terrible news.
or: These are terrible news. (with plural, even if I’m thinking of just one piece of news).
thanks
Hi,
Can we say this? It’s a terrible news.
or we must say: It’s terrible news.
or: These are terrible news. (with plural, even if I’m thinking of just one piece of news).
thanks
“News” is an uncountable noun, so we can never say “a news”, and you can’t use a plural verb with the word.
You can say, “This is a terrible piece of news.”
Dear Jamie,
Thanks for your answer again.
So we always have to add ’ a piece of’? There is no way to avoid it?
e.g.: ‘It’s terrible news’ - is not correct at all?
thanks
“It’s terrible news,” is perfectly correct, and we say it most of the time. However, many foreigners feel a need to refer to one specific item of news, but it’s ungrammatical to say “a news”. In those situations we have to say “piece of news”.
.
Just as a summary for what Jamie has already written, here are some direct responses to your original questions (inside the quote):