Prescriptive x Descriptive Grammar

The attempt to get English language learners to comprehend the distinction between mass nouns and count nouns is a problem teachers and professors face when teaching. Mainly when, in specific contexts, these mass nouns can be used as count nouns. Mass nouns are usually uncountable and follow partitives and quantifiers so that they have the possibility of being quantified. This is how prescriptive grammar functions, dictating the rules we need to follow in order to properly use the language, as the examples given:

A bottle of wine;

Some coffee;

A cup of tea.

As mentioned previously, some specific contexts allow mass nouns to become countable if referred as types or portions, and that’s when learners encounter pitfalls. Descriptive grammar is a useful tool to show how language is actually used by native speakers in daily-life situations. Ordering beverages in a restaurant or a bar, for instance, is a context which grants the possibility of using the words tea, wine and coffee as portion-type count nouns:

Which of these wines go with this dish? Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah or Zinfandel? (type)

I’ve already ordered 3 coffees. Now I want one tea, please. (portion)

My first hypothesis why, in spoken English, speakers tend to use plural forms in noncount nouns is due to practicality, which happens in different contexts. Speakers want to communicate and be comprehended, especially in moments such as ordering food and beverages while they talk to and hang out with their people. The situation itself also fosters the usage of colloquial English instead of longer and more complex structures like partitives and quantifiers.

My second thought on why this happens might be slightly rude, though. As far as we know, advanced grammar is only taught in specialized courses in which we learn and become conscious about the use of complex meanings, sentences, structures etc. Therefore, even though a user of language is illiterate or has a degree in any higher education, they will not be able to make this distinction consciously if they are not aware of how language works differently in specific contexts (spoken, written etc).

Thus, whether or not a speaker has this knowledge of linguistics, informal contexts allow us to make simpler and more straight-to-the-point choices in order to be communicated and understandable more easily