a piece of chalk versus a chalk. (2024)

Hi,

I have a question on a countable/uncountable nouns. A friend of mine who is teaching English said chalk can be either countable and uncountable when the word refers to a stick of chalk used on a blackboard. So, she said a chalk was acceptable. I was taught to write/say a piece of chalk. However, when I referred to a dictionary, the word 'chalk' is signposted with [C/U]. Now, I'm confused. Please clarify this.

Thanks

"A chalk" is incorrect. If used as a countable noun, then you need to say "a piece/stick of chalk". If used as an uncountable noun, then "chalk" is fine.

I wrote the words on the blackboard with a piece of chalk.
I wrote the words on the blackboard with chalk.

We also say:

I wrote the words on the blackboard in chalk.

alenjones23 said:

As you generally write "a piece of chalk" and "chalk" only, there is no use of word in which you use chalk with any counting numbers.

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I am not quite sure what you mean by that.

What teachers use, or used to use, is, as ems said, 'chalk' or 'a piece of chalk'. However, artists may use pencils, pastels, chalks, etc in their work. As a teacher in the good old days of blackboards, I always had a box of coloured chalk (containing different coloured sticks of chalk) in my classroom. I believe that an artist would have a box of coloured chalks.

(See 'black and coloured chalks here.)

This might be of interest, on "a chalk" and "a long chalk".
World Wide Words: Not by a long chalk

alenjones23 said:

Chalk is no doubt a conventionally uncountable noun. As you generally write "a piece of chalk" and "chalk" only, there is no use of word in which you use chalk with any counting numbers.

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This is confusing, alenjones, especially when following an informed reply from an experienced teacher.

Please read this extract from the forum guidelines:

:up: And, as it's open season on 'chalk' collocations, there is the slightly informal phrasal verb 'chalk up'.

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5jj said:

I am not quite sure what you mean by that.

What teachers use, or used to use, is, as ems said, 'chalk' or 'a piece of chalk'. However, artists may use pencils, pastels, chalks, etc in their work. As a teacher in the good old days of blackboards, I always had a box of coloured chalk (containing different coloured sticks of chalk) in my classroom. I believe that an artist would have a box of coloured chalks.

(See 'black and coloured chalks here.)

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From that I infer that if you talk about chalk used in schools for writing on a blackboard, then chalk is uncountable. When you talk about the chalk that artists use (perhaps a slightly different kind of chalk than is used in schools?), then chalk is countable. Is my deduction correct?

CarloSsS said:

From that I infer that if you talk about chalk used in schools for writing on a blackboard, then chalk is uncountable. When you talk about the chalk that artists use (perhaps a slightly different kind of chalk than is used in schools?), then chalk is countable. Is my deduction correct?

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Generally speaking, yes, especially if they are speaking of individual sticks. When I was searching around he net, I got the impression that suppliers of the product to artists are not very consistent when they advertise boxes of chalk(s).

I'd say that 'chalks' is the name of the

artists use - plural, like 'oils' or 'acrylics' ... - but I'm not sure an artist who works in chalks would refer to 'a box of chalks'. I wonder whether every supplier who advertises on the web is a native speaker! (But I can't be sure what artists do; they do and say some pretty odd things. ;-))

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BobK said:

I'd say that 'chalks' is the name of the

medium

artists use - plural, like 'oils' or 'acrylics' ... - but I'm not sure an artist who works in chalks would refer to 'a box of chalks'. I wonder whether every supplier who advertises on the web is a native speaker! (But I can't be sure what artists do; they do and say some pretty odd things. ;-))

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Are the chalks that artists use anyhow different from the chalk used in school? Or are they just two different names for the exactly same thing?

CarloSsS said:

Are the chalks that artists use anyhow different from the chalk used in school? Or are they just two different names for the exactly same thing?

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I suspect that the chalks that artists use are different in composition from the chalk that a teacher uses. However, I also suspect that if a teacher happened to pick up one of the tools of the trade of an artist, s/he would refer to it as (a piece/stick of) chalk. if an artist picked up one of the tools of the trade of a teacher, s/he might refer to it as a chalk.

Just to clarify, "a chalk" can be acceptable English in at least one other sense.

The samples of chalk taken from different quarries may have slightly different characteristics of color, fineness of grain, etc. If they are spoken of collectively as the different chalks, a chalk will refer to one such sample or type of chalk.

:up: The same applies (with appropriate differences) to all so-called 'mass' nouns - grass, sugar, flour...

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BobK said:

:up: The same applies (with appropriate differences) to all so-called 'mass' nouns - grass, sugar, flour...

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Does it also apply to mass itself? ;-)

charliedeut said:

Does it also apply to mass itself? ;-)

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Higgs boson goes to church, and someone stops him at the door: 'You can't go in there. The service has started. How dare you - especially with a nick-name like "the God Particle"?'
'But you can't have mass without me.'

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