Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Lesson 348. The title of today's lesson
is the countable and uncountable use of the word gossip. Okay let's take a look
at the note here. When gossip is used in reference to talking about other
people's personal lives or other people's personal business, it is an
uncountable noun. So that's how we use it most of the time. So the majority of the
time you'll probably think of it as an uncountable noun. In this situation, we
mostly say some gossip or a lot of gossip. All right and and this is the one
where students of ESL may make a mistake. Because sometimes they will put an "S" on
gossip when they shouldn't. So again with the X, this is wrong. So
this is an example. She loves to listen to gossips. No. She
loves to listen to gossip with the check. Because this is uncountable
in this sense or we have another example here. I heard some gossips about her
husband's affair. No. Again I heard some gossip about her husband's affair. The
third one. We actually have three. You know because this is where students
usually make the mistake. He always has many gossips to share. He always has a
lot of gossip to share. That would be the correct way of saying it.
All right good. And let's continue here. Now, now gossip is a countable noun
refers to a person who likes to talk about gossip often. So, so somebody
could be a gossip. That sense is countable. Okay. So we have one example
here. Don't reveal any of your business to Jenny. She is a bit of a gossip or you
know, maybe say, that whole group over there they're just a bunch of gossips.
You could say it that way. So if you're referring to the person who likes to
talk gossip or talk about gossip then that could be countable. It's also good
to note this. In the noun phrase of some columnist or a gossip blog the word
gossip is singular. So just realize that. So we have one example here for that. Ann
Landers was famous for being a gossip columnist. Okay. All right. So I hope you
got it. The majority of the time gossip is uncountable when it refers to
people's business, personal business or personal lives. Gossip is only singular
when it refers to a person. Okay. I hope you got it. I hope it was clear. Thank you
for your time. Bye-bye.