Is “…taken to be scholarly authority” missing a preposition or an article?
The sentence is from Harold Bloom's book Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human.
This chronology, necessarily tentative, partly follows what is generally taken to be scholarly authority.
I find this sentence strange as it stands, because among the noun authority's multiple meanings, the sense "the power to make decisions or tell people what to do" is uncountable, while the usage "expert" is countable--as corroborated by Cambridge and Macmillan dictionaries. So shouldn't the sentence be either:
This chronology, necessarily tentative, partly follows what is generally taken to be of scholarly authority.
or
This chronology, necessarily tentative, partly follows what is generally taken to be a scholarly authority.
word-usage nouns uncountable-nouns countable-nouns
edited 2 days ago
Laurel
31k660111
asked 2 days ago
L. Moneta
282114
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The sentence is from Harold Bloom's book Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human.
This chronology, necessarily tentative, partly follows what is generally taken to be scholarly authority.
I find this sentence strange as it stands, because among the noun authority's multiple meanings, the sense "the power to make decisions or tell people what to do" is uncountable, while the usage "expert" is countable--as corroborated by Cambridge and Macmillan dictionaries. So shouldn't the sentence be either:
This chronology, necessarily tentative, partly follows what is generally taken to be of scholarly authority.
or
This chronology, necessarily tentative, partly follows what is generally taken to be a scholarly authority.
word-usage nouns uncountable-nouns countable-nouns
edited 2 days ago
Laurel
31k660111
asked 2 days ago
L. Moneta
282114
add a comment |
The sentence is from Harold Bloom's book Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human.
This chronology, necessarily tentative, partly follows what is generally taken to be scholarly authority.
I find this sentence strange as it stands, because among the noun authority's multiple meanings, the sense "the power to make decisions or tell people what to do" is uncountable, while the usage "expert" is countable--as corroborated by Cambridge and Macmillan dictionaries. So shouldn't the sentence be either:
This chronology, necessarily tentative, partly follows what is generally taken to be of scholarly authority.
or
This chronology, necessarily tentative, partly follows what is generally taken to be a scholarly authority.
word-usage nouns uncountable-nouns countable-nouns
edited 2 days ago
Laurel
31k660111
asked 2 days ago
L. Moneta
282114
The sentence is from Harold Bloom's book Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human.
This chronology, necessarily tentative, partly follows what is generally taken to be scholarly authority.
I find this sentence strange as it stands, because among the noun authority's multiple meanings, the sense "the power to make decisions or tell people what to do" is uncountable, while the usage "expert" is countable--as corroborated by Cambridge and Macmillan dictionaries. So shouldn't the sentence be either:
This chronology, necessarily tentative, partly follows what is generally taken to be of scholarly authority.
or
This chronology, necessarily tentative, partly follows what is generally taken to be a scholarly authority.
word-usage nouns uncountable-nouns countable-nouns
word-usage nouns uncountable-nouns countable-nouns
edited 2 days ago
Laurel
31k660111
asked 2 days ago
L. Moneta
282114
edited 2 days ago
Laurel
31k660111
asked 2 days ago
L. Moneta
282114
edited 2 days ago
Laurel
31k660111
edited 2 days ago
Laurel
31k660111
edited 2 days ago
Laurel
31k660111
31k660111
asked 2 days ago
L. Moneta
282114
asked 2 days ago
L. Moneta
282114
asked 2 days ago
L. Moneta
282114
282114
add a comment |
add a comment |
1 Answer
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Moneta!
I think that the sentence used in the book is fully correct. This stems from the fact that authority is an uncountable noun just like water or salt. Therefore it doesn't require any articles in the general case. We can construct a similar sentence as follows:
"This liquid is thought of as healthy water."
Here you can see that the uncountability of the water makes this sentence correct.
answered 2 days ago
tyler1
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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Moneta!
I think that the sentence used in the book is fully correct. This stems from the fact that authority is an uncountable noun just like water or salt. Therefore it doesn't require any articles in the general case. We can construct a similar sentence as follows:
"This liquid is thought of as healthy water."
Here you can see that the uncountability of the water makes this sentence correct.
answered 2 days ago
tyler1
1202
New contributor
tyler1 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Moneta!
I think that the sentence used in the book is fully correct. This stems from the fact that authority is an uncountable noun just like water or salt. Therefore it doesn't require any articles in the general case. We can construct a similar sentence as follows:
"This liquid is thought of as healthy water."
Here you can see that the uncountability of the water makes this sentence correct.
answered 2 days ago
tyler1
1202
New contributor
tyler1 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Moneta!
I think that the sentence used in the book is fully correct. This stems from the fact that authority is an uncountable noun just like water or salt. Therefore it doesn't require any articles in the general case. We can construct a similar sentence as follows:
"This liquid is thought of as healthy water."
Here you can see that the uncountability of the water makes this sentence correct.
answered 2 days ago
tyler1
1202
New contributor
tyler1 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Moneta!
I think that the sentence used in the book is fully correct. This stems from the fact that authority is an uncountable noun just like water or salt. Therefore it doesn't require any articles in the general case. We can construct a similar sentence as follows:
"This liquid is thought of as healthy water."
Here you can see that the uncountability of the water makes this sentence correct.
answered 2 days ago
tyler1
1202
New contributor
tyler1 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 2 days ago
tyler1
1202
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answered 2 days ago
tyler1
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answered 2 days ago
tyler1
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