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Is it okay to say

"a big news"

for example,

"I am telling you a big news"

or is it wrong? I heard a non-native English speaker say that.

The word "news" is mystery to me. It has a plural form, but it's singular non-countable. I have no idea how to use it properly.

Nathan Tuggy
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brilliant
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  • It sounds wrong and is probably ungrammatical. "I have some really big news to tell you" would be better. – Mick Oct 14 '16 at 08:06
  • For someone who has been a member of EL&U and ELL SE for over five and three years respectively, you show remarkable little effort in your question. Can you please say "where" you saw this example, and provide a link. If this is a sentence created by you, can you please explain "why" you think it might, or might not be grammatical. Give users something more to chew than say "No, it's wrong" – Mari-Lou A Oct 14 '16 at 08:26
  • @Mari-LouA: "Can you please say "where" you saw this example" - I heard a non-native English speaker say that. "can you please explain "why" you think it might, or might not be grammatical" - The word "news" is mystery to me. It has a plural form, but it's "singular" non-countable. I have no idea how to use it properly. – brilliant Oct 14 '16 at 09:51
  • Then please edit your question and add the context. Oh, someone else has. – Mari-Lou A Oct 14 '16 at 10:18
  • Have you tried looking up the word news in a dictionary, before posting here? – Mari-Lou A Oct 14 '16 at 10:22
  • @Mari-LouA - Yes, I have. – brilliant Oct 14 '16 at 10:36
  • So, you do have an inkling of an idea after all. Good! :) And what did it say? – Mari-Lou A Oct 14 '16 at 10:38
  • It gives a definition of the word "news" and gives many examples, none of which has "a big news", thus, leaving me in the dark as to whether saying "a big news" is correct or wrong. – brilliant Oct 14 '16 at 10:46
  • Is it necessary to know the source of this sentence to say whether it's grammatically correct or not? – Omkar Reddy Oct 14 '16 at 10:53
  • @Ganesh.R what would ELL become if users never provide a little research and context? Anyone could post a single phrase and then ask "is this grammatical?" Anyone could then post an answer saying "No/Yes" but without any explanation. The question has been answered, but is the answer the best one? Is it the most complete? ELL is not a computer programme which munches questions and spits out answers. Well, I hope it will never become like that. – Mari-Lou A Oct 14 '16 at 11:37
  • @Mari-LouA Yes, the askers should research before asking any question. But I didn't talk about research. And we need source also but not for every question. He should have researched before asking but do you really need source of this sentence to answer this question? If you think the answer is not complete and best, you can post a complete answer since he now added the source of confusion. – Omkar Reddy Oct 14 '16 at 11:54
  • @Ganesh.R If someone comes across or hears a strange sounding sentence, then "yes" they should include that information. It's what's known as context. The sentence could have come from a novel, and the speaker was a non native, the sentence could have been uttered as a joke, maybe there is a specific context where "a big news" might, might, be acceptable. Without the context, we can never be sure. – Mari-Lou A Oct 14 '16 at 11:57
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    Whether the sentence came from a non native speaker or it was uttered as a joke or something else, it's always ungrammatical and we don't need any context to say this as far as I know. – Omkar Reddy Oct 14 '16 at 12:13

3 Answers3

1

No, you cannot say that.

News is a mass noun, meaning is not used with the indefinite article (a/an).

FatMan
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  • What's the difference between non-countable noun and mass noun? Are "drink" and "statistics" also mass nouns? – brilliant Oct 14 '16 at 10:41
  • Mass, non-countable or uncountable nouns are one and the same thing. "Drink" can be a mass noun in certain situations ("the table was laden with food and drink") and not in others ("pass me a drink"). "Statistics" isn't an uncountable noun, it is a plural noun. This information can be found in an English dictionary (I looked at Oxford English Dictionary, available online for free). – FatMan Oct 14 '16 at 10:49
  • Can you, please, give me a link to that dictionary? – brilliant Oct 14 '16 at 10:55
  • I recommend this, it's quite simple in navigation and provides useful information to a learner. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/ – FatMan Oct 14 '16 at 11:01
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You can't use that, as has been mentioned. Also, it would be idiomatically better to use give instead of tell. Here are some things you could say:

I am giving you a big piece of news

I am giving you some big news

which are both correct.

user43185
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I am telling you a big news

is not idiomatic and a native would not say it using the indefinite article "a".
"Big news" means that something is very important and being so might be referred to as

I am telling you the big news.
I am telling you some big news.

If you really must use the indefinite article then

I am telling you a big piece of news.
I am telling you a piece of big news.

might be used.

Peter
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