detail 到底可数不可数？

　　温哥华英文教练，致力于地道英文表达

　　Detail这个词非常古怪，既可以做可数名词，也可以做不可数名词。

　　我们来看《牛津英汉双解词典》的解释：

　　做可数名词讲：细微之处；枝节；琐事 a small individual fact or item; a less important fact or item 例如：an expedition planned down to the last detail; He stood still, absorbing every detail of the street.

　　做不可数名词讲：详情；全部细节 the small facts or features of sth, when you consider them all together 例如：This issue will be discussed in more detail in the next chapter. He had an eye for detail.

　　上面的解释，在我看来，说了等于没说，仍旧看不出detail做可数和不可数名词有何差别。更好气的时候，《牛津》在解释detail做不可数名词讲的时候举的例子：He had an eye for detail.干脆说这句话=He noticed and remembered small details. 这不就等于说，detail做可数名词和不可数名词没有区别嘛！

　　我不死心，又去其他地方搜罗了一圈，依旧得不到什么好的解答，鉴于此，我放弃做二者的区别，转而注意其语法的正当性，比如你可以说There is too much detail in the procedure.但你不能说There is too much details in the procedure.因为不可数名词才跟much搭配，而可数名词只能跟many搭配，如果你一定要用detail的复数形式，那就是把detail看成可数名词，这样，上一句可以说There are too many details in the procedure.