I would say it is both countable and accountable, therefore both of the following are correct:
An ice cream
Some ice cream
But “cream” without “ice” is uncountable.
Ice cream comes in blocks, scoops, dollops, dabs, dribbles etc. I suppose you could say “a cornet of ice cream” instead of just “an ice cream”.
A cornet of ice cream with two scoops…a cornet with two scoops of ice cream…two scoops of ice cream in a cornet…one scoop of vanilla ice cream and one of pistachio in a two-scoop cornet with an extra scoop of coffee ice cream on top and two flakes :hungry:
You’re right. “bar”, “cone”, etc. could be implied making it countable though. Kind of awkward in most respects, but universally used in sorts (?)Kind of weird though since it would be impossible to have a solid colored ice cream on it’s own with in which you could call it and ice cream. The color factor makes it less possible to be countable. An ice cream bar is the sort of thing that could be called an ice cream, but we just usually call it an “ice cream bar” though “ice cream” is used. Maybe more so by older generations.
“bowl” is definitely not a countable though in that you couldn’t refer to a bowl of ice cream as an “ice cream” unless the bowl was made of ice cream. Then it would be 100% acceptable. If such a thing existed back home, I suspect we would call it an “ice cream” bowl though. In such a case, we would say, “Do you want a red ice cream bowl?” even though it wouldn’t just be a bowl made of red ice cream, but also had red ice cream inside. At any rate, the subject would be understood and we’d ask, “Do you want a red one?” When you use “one”, it can be countable. That’s obvious.
Verdict: 100% non-countable.
What I find particularly confusing is red, blue, yellow, etc. ice cream. Ice cream should be referred to by flavor and not color.
Conclusion: you’ve got a bad book or a book with a bad section.
Sure, you can say “an ice cream”, but it depends on what kind of ice cream it is. When the color is introduced, it gets a little confusing.
You could be walking with someone and see an ice cream truck and say, “Do you want an ice cream.” or “Do you want some ice cream?” I actually think that “an” is more appropriate in this case.
Guess it’s situational in that what object we’re talking about. Are there pictures in your text book?
The notion of countable and uncountable can be confusing. Some supposedly uncountable nouns can behave like countable nouns if we think of them as being in containers, or one of several types. This is because ‘containers’ and ‘types’ can be counted.
Believe it or not each of these sentences is correct:
“Doctors recommend limiting consumption to two coffees a day.” (Here coffees refers to the number of cups of coffee)
You could write; “Doctors recommend limiting consumption to two cups of coffee a day.”
“The coffees I prefer are Arabica and Brazilian.”
(Here coffees refers to different types of coffee)
You could write; “The types of coffee I prefer are Arabica and Brazilian.”
Right. In a restaurant or pub, isn’t everything countable? “Can we get two salads?” “Can we get three waters?” “I’d like ten beers.” Talk about a headache…
[quote=“j99l88e77”]Yeah, like spaghetti, lemonade, any kind of soda, etc.
I know one that is for sure not a countable: kimchi. “I’ll have a kimchi please.” That one’s impossible.[/quote]
Speaking of which, in a restaurant, couldn’t you say “We’ll have two more kimchis”?
[quote]
Speaking of which, in a restaurant, couldn’t you say “We’ll have two more kimchis”?[/quote]
You could. Cause it’s served in a certain small dish. Hmmm. Acutally, in Korean, you’d use the countable or non countable. Like English, whatever you like. Some more. 2 more. Whatever. Hmmm.
There were three ice creams in the bowl, two chocolates and one vanilla, and when they melted together, nobody complained, but instead marvelled at the absence of conflict and strife.
There is an ice cream belonging to the missus in my freezer right now. That is the freezer compartment of the small Beer Fridge strategically located beside my desk. If there were two ice creams I might consider having one. However, I have already made up my mind to liberate the single remaining Kirin from capitvity, er, captivity, so, er, um, something.
Krirn, er, “Krir” fuck, “Kirin” can be countable too. Earlier on I had six Kirins and now I only have none. English is a wonderful languege,