An effort or efforts?

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weibing
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An effort or efforts?

Post by weibing »

Hi Everyone,

Any rules about when to use "effort" or "efforts"? Which of the following sentence should I choice? Why?
1. "He climbed the hill without effort."
2. "He climbed the hill without efforts."
3. "The doctor's effort to improve..."
4. "The doctor's efforts to improve..."
5. "Please put more effort into your work."
6. "Please put more efforts into your work."
7. "He made an effort to climb the wall."
8. "He made efforts to climb the wall."

Thanks a lot.
weibing
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Location: China

Post by weibing »

How come no reply to my question? Is my question too easy or too difficult? Could somebody give me some advice on how to correctly use plurals? I am looking forward to your reply!
Kirbo
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Joined: Sun May 07, 2006 4:41 am
Location: USA

Re: An effort or efforts?

Post by Kirbo »

weibing wrote:Hi Everyone,

Any rules about when to use "effort" or "efforts"? Which of the following sentence should I choice? Why?
1. "He climbed the hill without effort."
2. "He climbed the hill without efforts."
3. "The doctor's effort to improve..."
4. "The doctor's efforts to improve..."
5. "Please put more effort into your work."
6. "Please put more efforts into your work."
7. "He made an effort to climb the wall."
8. "He made efforts to climb the wall."

Thanks a lot.

I don't have a rule ... but I can tell you which of the following are correct

Number 1, Number 2, Number 5, Number 7
weibing
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Location: China

Post by weibing »

Thanks for the answer! How about #4?--it seems to me that #4 is also correct. To be honest, it's not easy for non-English speakers to fully understand the plural(s) of uncountable noun(s)! Thanks again!!
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