Is this valid for the English language 'win special armor'

[Valleriani]

I was writing something out and someone said that 'You can win special armor!' as a line is incorrect. They stated that it should have an article, aka 'You can win a special armor!'

To me, both in this case are correct. I know you can't 'win special weapon', and the article would be removed only when it's a plural in this case, aka 'win a special weapon'/'win special weapons'.

If the above 'win special armor' is correct, why is that? Is there a rule or logic to why that works in this case and sounds correct? 

[TeacherMichelleF]

"Armour" is an uncountable noun and so doesn't need an article. Weapon is a countable noun, so it does need an article. For example, you could say "an apple" or "a song" but not "a water" or "a music" because water and music are uncountable. 

Does that make sense?

[宇崎ちゃん]

1 hour ago, TeacherMichelleF said:

"Armour" is an uncountable noun and so doesn't need an article. Weapon is a countable noun, so it does need an article. For example, you could say "an apple" or "a song" but not "a water" or "a music" because water and music are uncountable. 

Does that make sense?

I didn't even notice the countable vs uncountable part!
Much like how "less" and "fewer" works right?

I actually thought that "armour" would be countable?
Of course you can only wear 1 at a time, but you can have a closet with a couple of them I suppose.

[TeacherMichelleF]

Yes, basically.

"suit of armour" is countable. You would wear a suit of armour but not an armour. It's like having a glass of water instead of a water or a piece of luggage instead of a luggae.

I agree that it sounds a little confusing.If a countable noun (suit, glass, piece) goes first then there's nothing in the sentence to tell you that the uncountable noun is uncountable. This can be a bit tricky, I agree.

[宇崎ちゃん]

13 hours ago, TeacherMichelleF said:

Yes, basically.

"suit of armour" is countable. You would wear a suit of armour but not an armour. It's like having a glass of water instead of a water or a piece of luggage instead of a luggae.

I agree that it sounds a little confusing.If a countable noun (suit, glass, piece) goes first then there's nothing in the sentence to tell you that the uncountable noun is uncountable. This can be a bit tricky, I agree.

I thought of "armour" as the suit itself already.
When I think of water, I'm thinking of the liquid, not the glass.
When I think of luggage, I think of the whole thing rather than it being in pieces.

Maybe that's where it went wrong?

[TeacherMichelleF]

Yes, I think" armour" is often used instead of "suit of armour", which can be a bit confusing. "Glass of water" is used all the time, "piece of luggage" isn't.

The sentence doesn't always make the word classification clear.

[Azarna]

If I was going to "win a special armour" I think I would assume it was going to be a full suit of armour.

But "win special armour" might mean winning a bit of the full set: perhaps a breastplate or gauntlets only.