Hi,
The words "view", "sight" and "scenery" made me constinously confused.
Please tell me if I can put them in the sentence below respectively.
Thank you.
"A magical view over the calm water of the bay appears before my eyes."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: cocoricot,

Quite interchangeable here, but "sight" is a bit less so.

"Sight" works best. We'd say "a sight appears." In this sentence, a sight -- nor normally in view -- appears. Maybe a geyser sprung out of the bay appears, or 50 parachuters fall in formation.

You can say that "a view appears," but more accurately you'd say that you came upon the view.

You can't use "scenery" here. First, "scenery" is a noncount noun and is not preceded by "a."

Second, "scenery" is permanent, and it can't just appear.

Rachel

quote:

First, "scenery" is a noncount noun and is not preceded by "a."

I don't think so. "Scenery" can be "view" and as such can be countable, according to this dictionary (I know it's uncountable in Cambridge):

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scenery

3 a : a picturesque view or landscape b : a picture representing such a view

http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com
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Also see countable use here:

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After hiking we went for a ride in the mountains and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

We will arrive on Saturday morning because on the way to the mountains, we'll pass the Gorges du Verdon, a beautiful scenery so we've been told.

http://www.andy-and-tess.co.uk/MTTess/posts_2004
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This message has been edited. Last edited by: JerryS,

Almost any noncount noun can be made count in certain situations.

"Scenery" is entered as a noncount noun ONLY, in the Collins COBUILD, and also in the LDOCE:

sce"§ne"§ry [uncountable]
1 the natural features of a particular part of a country that you can see, such as mountains, forests, deserts etc:
The best part of the trip was the fantastic scenery.
2 the painted background, furniture etc used on a theatre stage
_______

Rachel

Well, let's look into that mother of all English dictionaries:-), the Short OED, p. 2691:

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scenery

4. A view of a picturesque scene; (a pictorial representation of) a landscape. Now rare.
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Now, it might be "now rare," but it can be used with this meaning as countable, and in the context of the original posting.

And this is in agreement with the definition which I've posted in the above from M-W.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JerryS,

Yes, the definition of "scenery IS.."A view...A ..representation." But that does not make the word scenery itself a count noun.

Sometimes count nouns are used in the definition of noncount nouns. It's logical because the noncount noun is often the general class of the count nouns.

Common noncount nouns from the LDOCE (called "uncountable" in this dictionary):

"¢ in"§for"§ma"§tion [uncountable]
1 facts or details that tell you something about a situation, person, event etc:
I need more information.

"¢ jew"§el"§lery British English ; jewelry American English [uncountable]
small things that you wear for decoration, such as rings or NECKLACEs:
a piece of jewellery
She wears a lot of gold jewelry.

"¢ rice
1 a food that consists of small white or brown grains that you boil in water until they become soft enough to eat [↪ risotto, pilau]:
a tasty sauce served with rice or pasta
a plate of brown rice
Serve with plain boiled rice.
a few grains of rice
_______

The beauty of using a learner's dictionary such as the LDOCE or the Collins COBUILD is that a learner's dictionary addresses topics like "countable vs. uncountable" that standard dictionaries do not.

A person whose native language is not English needs to know which nouns are generally count and which are not.

Rachel