Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 691.

· Countable nounsare nouns which we can count. They have singular and plural forms.

apple - apples, woman - women, child - children, etc.

· Uncountable nounsare nouns which we cannot count. They do not have different plural

forms and do not go with a, an, one, two, etc. They can be used alone or with some/any/ much etc.

Uncountable nouns are:

• Mass nouns (fluids, solids, gases, particles):beer, blood, bread, butter, air, oxygen, corn, flour etc.

• Subjects of study:history, literature, maths, physics, accountancy, chemistry, economics etc

• Languages:Spanish, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, Chinese etc

• Games:baseball, billiards, football, golf, darts, rugby, cricket, cycling etc

• Diseases:flu, pneumonia, measles, mumps, chickenpox, tuberculosis etc

• Natural phenomena:darkness, fog, gravity, hail, snow, sunlight, shade etc

• Some nouns:accommodation, advice, anger, applause, assistance, behaviour, business, chaos, coun­tryside, courage, dirt, education, evidence, homework, housework, information, intelligence, knowledge, luck, music, news, peace, progress, seaside, shopping, traffic, trouble, truth, wealth, work etc

• Collective nouns:baggage, crockery, cutlery, furniture, jewellery, luggage, machinery, money, rubbish, stationery etc

Note: With expressions of duration, distance or money meaning "a whole amount" we use a singular verb.Two months wastoo long to spend in hospital.

NOTE:We can use a, an, one, two, etc. with nouns such as coffee, tea, etc. when we order something.

We'll have two coffees,please.

· To refer to a specific amount of an uncountable noun, we can use the following:

a pieceof cake/paper/news/advice/information/ furniture

a glass/bottleof wafer/lemonade/soda

a jarof jam/honey

a packetof rice/tea

a loaf/sliceof bread

a potof yoghurt/honey/tea

a cup of tea/coffee

a kiloof meat/cheese

a bar of chocolate/soap

a tubeof toothpaste

a canof soda

a cartonof milk

a bowlof sugar/soup

a bitof cheese

a dropof water/liquid

a lumpof sugar/coal

a pileof rubbish/wood

Some of the nouns above can also be used with plural countable nouns: a kilo of lemons, a bowl of strawberries, a pile of books etc.

· Some nouns can be used as countable or uncountable, with a difference in meaning.

a) I'd like a glassof orange juice, please.

She took off her glassesand rubbed her eyes. (spectacles)

The chandelier is made of glass.(material)

b) I enjoy reading the Sunday paper.(newspaper)

Can I have a few pieces of paperfrom your notebook? (writing material)

c) The dog has left hairsall over the furniture.

My son has got dark brown hair.

d) Is this bookcase made of wood?(material)

We can go for a picnic in the woodstomorrow. (forest)

e) Jessie's allergic to chocolate.

We gave Mum a box of chocolatesfor her birthday.

f) I found a beautiful ironbed at the antiques market. (material)

Is the ironhot yet? (for ironing clothes)

g) What timedid you say the concert starts?

I've been to London on business four timesthis year. (occasions)

h) I think we should hire Mrs Bradley. She's got a lot of experience.(length of time doing sth)

It was agreat experiencefor me to live in New York. (event, sth that happened to somebody)

i) We have booked a roomat the Excelsior for next weekend.

I think we have enough roomfor five more tables, (space)

a couple of, several, (a) few/many, a (good/large/ great) number of, both + countable nouns

A great number of children were playing in the park yesterday.

(too) much, (a) little, a great/good deal of, a small/ large amount/quantity of + uncountable nouns

You don't need a large amountof moneyto buy a second-hand motorcycle.

a lot of, lots of, (hardly) any, some, no, plenty of + countable and uncountable nouns

There is no milkin the jug.

You need plenty of onionsto make French onion soup.