化学单词单复数问题

M猫Fishoo

OG12-74

A 1972 agreement between Canada and the United States reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities had been allowed to dump into the Great Lakes.

(A) reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities had been allowed to dump
(B) reduced the phosphate amount that municipalities had been dumping
(C) reduces the phosphate amount municipalities have been allowed to dump
(D) reduced the amount of phosphates that municipalities are allowed to dump
(E) reduces the amount of phosphates allowed for dumping by municipalities

这题有出现了amount of phosphates, 用amount说明phosphate是不可数的, 但为什么会有复数呢?

查了一下其他化学单词, 像nitrate硝酸盐也是有复数形式的..

这种名词单数也不能表示一个吧..那到底复数有什么意义呢??

有没有nn能解释一下..谢谢!

xiaoshenshen

不知道这样解释通不通哈~

phosphate加s可能代表很多种的phosphate，之所以能用amount of phosphates，是因为该句子中，重点关注的是各种phosphate的总量。如果用the number of phosphates，看起来更像是在说phosphate的种类有几种。

M猫Fishoo

ls说的好像有点道理耶...