Monday, September 30, 2013

Is the word 'mistake' a concrete or abstract noun?

According to Answers.com:




The word mistake is an abstract noun, a word for an error in action or judgement.




Is this correct?



Then, why does it act like concrete nouns such as 'car' when it comes to countability?




Both 'mistake' and 'car' are countable, unless they follow "by".




a. I made three mistakes today. vs. I went there by mistake.



b. I saw three cars today. vs. I went there by car.




Does this prove that 'mistake' is also a concrete noun?
Or is 'mistake' still an abstract noun, despite this similarity in countability?

No comments:

Post a Comment