What are Partitives? Get the Meaning and Examples


Most times when I heard people say "there is no single water in the house", I felt like shutting their mouths with very big padlocks, but my powers are limited. The phrase "single water" is totally ungrammatical because "water" is an  uncountable noun. Other examples of uncountable nouns are: rice, sand, information, advice, blood, wood, paper, milk etc. That is why you can't say "bloods", "rices", "informations" etc.
What are Partitives? Get the Meaning and Examples

However, these uncountable nouns can be made countable with the use of items of measurement called partitives. Partitives are expressions that are used to make an uncountable noun countable. The underlined words in the examples below are examples of partitives:
Examples
  • A piece of information.
  • A log of wood.
  • A drop/bucket of water.
  • A bowl/plate of rice.
  • A lorry load of sand.
  • A pint of blood/milk etc. 
Having known what partitives are and how they can be used, I expect you to put them into good use when dealing with uncountable nouns. Don't be a fan of "there is no single water in the house".

Tamuno Reuben

Those who seek knowledge seek power because the pen is mightier than the sword.

10 Comments

  1. Enter your comment...wow, so nice
    Adomokeme Mary

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lol, am guilty of this one. Imagine the padlock on my mouth.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice one. Thanks. Faith Tobi

    ReplyDelete
  4. Enter your comment...great job really learning lot from u thanks

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks.. .
    Noted.
    Victoria Wilson.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks Tammy. keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wanna know the meaning of patative...when someone say patative, what's does that mean

    ReplyDelete
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