LESSON 08 singular plural uncountable common phrases compunds living in the world dilemmas of the self giddens

LESSON 8
SINGULAR, PLURAL, UNCOUNTABLE: COMMON PHRASES
COMPOUNDS
SINGULAR, PLURAL, UNCOUNTABLE: COMMON PHRASES
A. Countable and uncountable – in several common phrases nouns that are commonly
countable are used as uncountable, and vice versa:
1. countable nouns used uncountably:
We went on foot.
He’ll never set foot in my house again.
We don’t see eye to eye.
They walked arm in arm / hand in hand.
2. uncountable nouns used as countable plurals:
He goes out in all weathers.
The rains are early this year.
Where did you go on your travels?
B. Singular and plural – some nouns are commonly singular but we use them as plurals in
common phrases:
1. with the:
I’m sorry, I’ll have to report you to the authorities.
He looked at the mess and raised his eyes to the heavens.
2. with possessives, such as my, his etc.:
We’ll need to keep a close eye on their activities.
What do you know about his likes and dislikes?
3. without an article:
She puts on ridiculous airs and graces.
Do you need to claim travel expenses?

PRACTICE
1. Put one of the nouns in each of the sentences.
heavens
terms

sights
talks

feelings
expenses

authorities
odds

arms
dislikes

a. The shoplifter was arrested and handed over to the ……………………
b. The …………………… opened ansd we had to run for cover to avoid getting
wet.


c. United think they can win but I suspect the …………………… are heavily
against them
d. ‘What are you going to do in Paris?’ ‘Oh, just to see the ……………………’
e. I think we need to negotiate the …………………… of this agreement.
f. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your ……………………
g. The right to bear …………………… is written into the US constitution.
h. The peace …………………… have broken down again.
i. Do you need to claim …………………… for the trip?
j. As far as food is concerned, do you have any particular likes or
……………………?
2. Find the word missing in each of the “clues” and complete the crossword.

Across
2. The constant ……… and goings next door ever cease to amaze me.
6. I have no wish to make ……… with anyone, least of all you.
8. I was absolutely lost for ………
9. What shall we spend our ……… on?
10. My former colleagues have all gone off to the four ……… of the earth.
11. I’m not going to take ………; you two sort it out between you.
13. Players take ……… to lay their cards face-down on the table.
Down
1. What are they going to do with the ……… of the sale?
3. I refused to compensate him for the damaged ………
4. Stop playing silly ……… and concentrate on your work.
5. I do hope we can stay ……… despite what’s happened.
7. I mean to succeed by fair ……… or foul.
12. The police are just beginning to appreciate the ……… and outs of the case.


COMPOUNDS
A. Noun + noun
1. we often combine two nouns as a collocation. The first noun is usually singular
and qualifies the second:
a cookery book (= for learning cookery)
a computer game (= played on a computer)
2. we use many of these collocations so often that we consider them to be one word
– they have become compound nouns. Some are usually written as one word
(seafood). Others are written as two words (brain drain) and others are
hyphenated (T-shirt). There are no fixed rules:
laptop
city centre
willpower

fridge-freezer
flow chart
animal rights
phonecard
watchword
3. we can combine more than two nouns as collocations:
a road tax disc (= a printed notice proving that road tax has been paid)
a motorway service station (= for petrol (BrE) / gas (AmE) and food on a
motorway (BrE) / highway (AmE))
B. Adjective + noun – we can also combine adjectives with nouns as collocations or
compounds.
mobile phone
parting shot
fizzy drink
loudspeaker
musical instrument
C. Adjective + adjective – some words combine to make compound adjectives:
absent-minded
big-headed
good-looking
short-lived
These may collocate with particular nouns:
cold-blooded murder
clear-cut case
all-round athlete
keep-fit fanatic

run-down area
flat-footed person

D. Other combinations – we can combine other parts of speech, especially several words,
to make compound nouns:
law and order bride-to-be
comrade in arms
fork-lift truck
grass-roots opinion

PRACTICE
1. Put the corresponding letter of the right word into the blank of each sentence.
1. The difference in their computer skills was attributed to the generation …………
a. space
b. difference
c. gap
d. hole
2. Tony seemed remarkably devoid of ………… sense and did the most ridiculous
things.
a. common
b. ordinary
c. average
d. everyday


3. The cost of ………… has risen dramatically.
a. life
b. lives
c. alive
d. living
4. There is a strong movement supporting the abolition of death …………
a. penalty
b. punishment

c. discipline
d. condemnation
5. The trades unions called for a five per cent pay increase for all public …………
workers.
a. section
b. area
c. zone
d. sector
6. Why not take your case to the European Court of Human …………?
a. Entitlement
b. Allowance
c. Law
d. Rights
7. He gave up studying after suffering a nervous …………
a. collapse
b. breakdown
c. failure
d. malfunction
8. Concorde is the only commercial plane to have broken the sound …………
a. frontier
b. barrier
c. boundary
d. limit
9. The hospital called for volunteer blood ………… after their supplies ran low.
a. givers
b. contributors
c. donors
d. suppliers
10. One of the most devastating weapons of modern time is the ………… missile.
a. directed

b. instructed
c. programmed
d. guided
2. Put the corresponding letter of the right word into the blank of each sentence.
1. He did well in the ………… knowledge quiz.
a. widespread
b. common
c. general
d. ordinary
2. The Government requires everybody to make a financial contribution towards
their ………… education.
a. higher
b. high
c. highest
d. highly
3. Police are meeting members of the ethnic community in order to improve race
…………
a. relationships b. relations
c. relatives
d. relativity
4. The ………… state exists in order to provide free education and health care to the
less well-off.
a. social
b. benefit
c. welfare
d. nanny
5. Unemployment ………… is paid to people who are unable to find any work.
a. security b. money
c. service
d. benefit

6. The factory made huge improvements in its general management and …………
control.
a. quality
b. level
c. standard
d. equality
7. Industrial ………… have improved with the introduction of a shorter working
week.
a. relationships b. relations
c. relatives
d. relativity
8. Coal, oil and other similar ………… resources may eventually be replaced by
solar energy.
a. nature
b. nature’s
c. natural
d. native
9. Arms ………… was the main issue discussed at the leaders’ summit.
a. control
b. controls
c. controlling
d. controlled


10. The Prime Minister is an old ………… at these conferences, having been to so
many.
a. hand
b. man
c. time
d. goat

3. Select the correct compound noun to complete the sentence.
Throughout Western Europe, there has been a rise in the number of …………
a. only-parent families
c. uni-parent families
b. one-parent families
d. mono-parent families

‘Living in the World’: Dilemmas of the Self
The first dilemma is that of unification versus fragmentation. Modernity fragments; it
also unites. On the level of the individual right up to that of planetary systems as a whole,
tendencies towards dispersal vie with those promoting integration. So far as the self is
concerned, the problem of unification concerns protecting and reconstructing the
narrative of self-identity in the face of the massive intensional and extensional changes
which modernity sets into being. In most pre-modern contexts, the fragmentation of
experience was not a prime source of anxiety. Trust relations were localised and focused
through personal ties, even if intimacy in the modern sense was generally lacking. In a
post-traditional order, however, an indefinite range of possibilities present themselves,
not just in respect of options for behaviour, but in respect also of the ‘openness of the
world’ to the individual. ‘The world’, as indicated above, is not a seamless order of time
and space stretching away from the individual; it intrudes into presence via an array of
varying channels and sources.
Yet it is wrong to see the world ‘out there’ as intrinsically alienating and oppressive to the
degree to which social systems are either large in scale or spatially distant from the
individual. Such phenomena may often be drawn on to supply unifying influences; they
are not just fragmenting in their impact on the self. Distant events may become as
familiar, or more so, than proximate influences, and integrated into the frameworks of
personal experience. Situations ‘at hand’ may in fact be more opaque than large-scale
happenings affecting many millions of people. Consider some examples. A person may
be on the telephone to someone twelve thousand miles away and for the duration of the
conversation be more closely bound up with the responses of that distant individual than

with others sitting in the same room. The appearance, personality and policies of a world
political leader may be better known to a given individual than those of his next-door
neighbour. A person may be more familiar with the debate over global warming than with
why the tap in the kitchen leaks. Nor are remote or large-scale phenomena necessarily
factors only vaguely ‘in the background’ of an individual’s psychological make-up and
identity. A concern with global warming, for example, might form part of a distinctive
lifestyle adopted by a person, even if she is not an ecological activist. Thus she might
keep in close contact with scientific debates and adjust various aspects of her lifestyle in
relation to the practical measures they suggest.
Giddens, Anthony. Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1991, pp. 187-201.