A cup of tea

A cup of tea, a bowl of soup, a drop of water ...
These are all partitive expressions.  They show which is the size or the container of the uncountable noun they modify.
Partitive expressions are also very much used with abstract nouns which are also uncountable. For example: a stroke of luck, a grain of truth, etc.
The activity below helps you to practise with some of these partitive expressions.

Partitive expressions

Which are the missing partitive expressions in these texts?

   a fit of anger      A glimmer of hope      A peal of laughter      a pinch of salt      a scrap of      a scrap of difference      a spot of bother      a spot of trouble      an article of faith      evidence      grain of truth      outbreak of violence      pangs of hunger      pieces of advice      torrents of abuse   

Man destroys T-Mobile store in
Footage shows a man in Manchester, England, ripping posters from the walls of a T-Mobile store and doing other unspeakable things. What might the carrier have done to upset him?
http://www.cnet.com/news/man-destroys-t-mobile-store-in-a-fit-of-anger/

The motorist who launched a foul-mouthed tirade at a cyclist has been bombarded with after video of his rant was viewed tens of thousands of times online.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/driver-who-launched-road-rage-tirade-at-cyclist-suffers-torrent-of-abuse-online-10292123.html

Make your own spice blend with ground pepper, garlic powder, onion powder,and only .
lightenuplancaster.org

I’ve listed five of these hard-to-follow, cliché , along with alternative suggestions you may actually be inclined to take.
http://tinybuddha.com/blog/5-pieces-of-advice-that-arent-cliches/

If you find that you're getting into , we'll do our best to help you get out of it.
playparlay.com

Our columnist is having with his European identity.
indigomagazine.eu

If gay marriage becomes legal, how is going to affect my life, or your life? It’s not. It won’t make . All that will happen is more people will be happy. Is that such a bad thing?
http://www.pressreader.com/australia/geelong-advertiser/20150701/281724088206353/TextView

As far as the assassinations in Russia are concerned, even the highly respected Neue Züricher Zeitung has stated quite clearly that there is not even circumstantial to show that it was Chechens who were responsible, (...)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+CRE+20020410+ITEMS+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN

Human security has been a case in point. (…). Despite his strong personality, Axworthy was unable to make overly rapid progress with the concept. It has been slower to catch on in the more southerly of the two countries while it quickly became almost for the more northerly one.
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001345/134554e.pdf#page=1&zoom=auto,366,652

is offered by the proposals adopted today
for providing aid to the most vulnerable countries, the developing countries.
europarl.europa.eu

He managed at times to survive by eating portions of rabbit food that barely lessened the gripping .
alst.org

The latest is yet another episode in the ongoing turmoil that has plagued the region over the past six decades.
www.daccess-ods.un.org

It is time to go. John Paul II walks out, approaches his car, then suddenly decides to return to the church to greet the young people one last time. “I have to confess to you that I am leaving,” he tells them. “And with sadness. But the pope must obey! He has many superiors!” rings out, quickly followed by applause, and the singing begins once again as the pope sets off.
http://www.taize.fr/en_article6718.html

[...] this groundless accusation has to be ascertained, if it has any , by an independent party in an open forum.
daccess-ods.un.org