Hello! This is Malia from the SALC. Last week, we looked at the difference between ‘grow’ and ‘grow up’. Today, let’s check the second grammar point in our list: ‘That’s all’. ---
2. That’s all
A simple mistake Japanese speakers of English sometimes make is saying ‘it’s good’ to mean what they have is enough. This is a translation error. ‘It’s good’ means ‘それがいい’. To say ‘それでいい’ in English, there are a few options: 1. That’s all/it/everything. → それで全部 → 物を追加しない（数えられる）
2. That’s good/enough. → それで十分 → 量が足りている（数えられない）
Here are the key points:
・Use ‘that’, not ‘it’. For ‘これでいい’, use ‘this’.
・Know the difference between ‘数えられる物’ and ‘数えられない量’.
In the dialogue at the end of this blog post, ‘それでいい’ is used in many different ways at a restaurant. A ‘数えられる物’ at a restaurant can be one item on the menu (単体/一品). Pizza and salad are countable as menu items but can also be uncountable as food. Here’s why:
・Salad doesn’t have a specific shape, so it’s uncountable. But like in Japanese, any noun
can be counted if you think about it as one item: “I ate salad” = サラダを食べた “I ate a salad” = サラダを一つ食べた
・Pizza is usually eaten in slices, not as a whole, so it can be uncountable when eating (like
bread and cake). If you ate ‘a pizza’, you ate the whole circle by yourself.
・Food = anything you can eat. It is uncountable because there is no specific shape, unless
you are talking about types of food. 🍕 🍕 🍕 🍕 = (a) food 🍕🥗🍓🍟 = food(s)
food = 食べ物、種類を特定する必要がない
a food = ある種類の食べ物
foods = 色んな種類の食べ物
To master this grammar point, check your understanding of countable vs. non-countable nouns and how you can sometimes use both for the same noun in different contexts.
Example dialogue:
A: I’d like to order a large pizza.
B: One large pizza. Can I get you anything else?
A: No, that’s it. …oh, actually, can I add a side salad? （ピザ一つで全部）
B: One large pizza and a side salad. Is that all? （ピザ一つとサラダ一つで全部なのか）
A: Yes, that’s everything. （ビザ一つとサラダ一つで全部）
B: Here’s some dressing for your salad. Is that enough? （ドレッシングの量が十分なのか）
A: Yes, that’s good, thank you. （ドレッシングの量が十分）
…
B: How is your food? Would you like to order anything else?
A: No, this is good, thank you. （食べ物の量が十分）
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Have you made this common mistake in your everyday English? The next time you use the grammar point above, remember what you learned today or share your knowledge with your friends. Come back next week to check the third common mistake!
SALC LA
Malia Bernard