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1. It's catastrophe.
2. It's a catastrophe.
What is the difference in meaning between the two, and when do you use the first not the second?
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Joe Kim wrote:1. It's catastrophe.
2. It's a catastrophe.
What is the difference in meaning between the two, and when do you use the first not the second?
Joe Kim, I can't think of any situation in which you would say "it's catastrophe".
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Joe Kim wrote:1. It's catastrophe.
2. It's a catastrophe.
What is the difference in meaning between the two, and when do you use the first not the second?
The first is not grammatical. You might say "It's catastrophic." instead.
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Agreeing with Neu, that the first sentence is not usable. However, you might hear something similar to that, routinely.
"That's catastrophic."
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Wilmar (USA) wrote:Agreeing with Neu, that the first sentence is not usable. However, you might hear something similar to that, routinely.
"That's catastrophic." Ok! Let us put it another other way: http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/catastropheQuote:1 [countable, uncountable] a terrible event in which there is a lot of destruction, suffering, or death syn disaster And then some examples on the same page: Quote:The Black Sea is facing ecological catastrophe as a result of pollution. Quote:These will go a long way to lessen the real danger of accidental war or nuclear catastrophe due to misinformation. Quote:The prose of this chapter measures the adequacy of verbal accounts of catastrophe in the age of photographic reproduction. Quote:When November came, and the debt ceiling had not moved, Rubin postponed catastrophe by borrowing from two government pension funds. Quote:The economy seems to be moving toward catastrophe. As I understand it if the economy is moving toward catastrophe then when it arrives at the destination what you see is not a catastrophe but catastrophe. It's catastrophe.
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And ecology is important. 
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Харбин Хэйлунцзян 1 wrote:
As I understand it if the economy is moving toward catastrophe then when it arrives at the destination what you see is not a catastrophe but catastrophe. It's catastrophe.
══════════════════════════════════════════════Actually, if the economy is "moving toward catastrophe" then the resulting catastrophic situation may be either " catastrophe" or " a catastrophe". We can say it either way.
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NKM wrote:Харбин Хэйлунцзян 1 wrote:
As I understand it if the economy is moving toward catastrophe then when it arrives at the destination what you see is not a catastrophe but catastrophe. It's catastrophe.
══════════════════════════════════════════════Actually, if the economy is "moving toward catastrophe" then the resulting catastrophic situation may be either " catastrophe" or " a catastrophe". We can say it either way. Agree, and "a catastrophe" is the more common form in my experience.
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To add my two cents... the word catastrophe is countable. For example, we can say: 'He/she experienced many catastrophe s in his/her life. The use of an article, a or the, or no article in the singular will depend on context, but catastrophe is not necessarily uncountable. http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/catastrophe
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I agree that "It's catastrophe" would be an unlikely (not quite impossible) sentence. However, there are two meanings to the word - one countable and one uncountable (a mass-noun). What is the state of a country devastated by floods and earthquakes. - It's catastrophe.The planet suffered a catastrophe when it was hit by an asteroid. (countable) The planet is heading towards a catastrophe. (a destructive incident) The planet is heading towards catastrophe. (a state of much destruction) Quote:catastrophe
noun
1 An event causing great and usually sudden damage or suffering; a disaster.
‘an environmental catastrophe’
mass noun ‘inaction will only bring us closer to catastrophe’ Oxford Dictionary
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Drag0nspeaker wrote:The planet is heading towards a catastrophe. (a destructive incident)
The planet is heading towards catastrophe. (a state of much destruction) I think that's what the original poster was asking about and I couldn't figured out exactly. You are brilliant Drag0nspeaker! Как всегда.
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Just to add some statistical data from COCA. face catastrophe, 8 hits face a catastrophe, 3 avoid catastrophe, 11 avoid a catastrophe, 7 avert catastrophe, 6 avert a catastrophe, 7 prevent catastrophe, 5 prevent a catastrophe, 8
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