Hi, let's say your neighbor, who is Japanese, gave you one of the following yesterday.
#1 - As you can see, it doesn't have a label on it. But she said the liquid inside was dish detergent.
#2 - Almost everything on the label is written in Japanese, but the packaging suggests that it's a branded product. She said the liquid inside was dish detergent.
#3 - Let's imagine this is a well-known dish detergent brand (if it's not well-known).
Now, please imagine you are chatting with one of your colleagues at work, and you say the following.
My neighbor gave me a dish soap/detergent yesterday. (AmE)
My neighbour gave me a washing-up liquid yesterday. (BE)
Maybe you are more likely to say "gave me Ecover yesterday" for #3, but is the use of the indefinite article appropriate or would you use "some"? Or would you say "a bottle of"?
#1 - As you can see, it doesn't have a label on it. But she said the liquid inside was dish detergent.
#2 - Almost everything on the label is written in Japanese, but the packaging suggests that it's a branded product. She said the liquid inside was dish detergent.
#3 - Let's imagine this is a well-known dish detergent brand (if it's not well-known).
Now, please imagine you are chatting with one of your colleagues at work, and you say the following.
My neighbor gave me a dish soap/detergent yesterday. (AmE)
My neighbour gave me a washing-up liquid yesterday. (BE)
Maybe you are more likely to say "gave me Ecover yesterday" for #3, but is the use of the indefinite article appropriate or would you use "some"? Or would you say "a bottle of"?
