Countable and uncountable nouns

Countable and Countable and Uncountable NounsUncountable Nouns

Countable and Countable and Uncountable NounsUncountable Nouns

What are countable nouns?

Countable nouns are individual objects,

people, places, etc. which can be counted.

A countable noun can be both singular

- a friend, a house, etc.

- or plural - a few apples, lots of trees, etc.

Use the singular form of the verb with a singular

countable noun:

dog, cat, animal, man, person

bottle, box, litre

coin, note, dollar

cup, plate, fork

table, chair, suitcase, bag

Countable nouns can be singular or plural:

My dog is playing.

My dogs are hungry.

Countable nouns have a plural form

Singular: a car

an eggplant

three

Plural: some dolls

many

Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot "count" them.

For example, we cannot count "milk". We can count "bottles of milk" or "litres of milk", but we cannot count "milk" itself. Here are some more uncountable nouns:

Uncountable Nouns

music, art, love, happiness

advice, information, news

furniture, luggage

rice, sugar, butter, water

electricity, gas, power

money, currency

We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular : We use a singular verb. For example:

This news is very important.

Your luggage looks heavy.

You can count uncountable nouns if you use:You can count uncountable nouns if you use:

A piece of… cheese

A bowl of… soup

A cup of… tea

A bottle of…wine

A carton of…milk

A bar of… chocolate

MILK

Here are some of the most common containers /

quantity expressions for these uncountable nouns:

advice - a piece of advice baggage - a piece of baggagebread - a slice of bread, a loaf

of breadequipment - a piece of

equipmentfurniture - a piece of furnituregarbage - a piece of garbageinformation - a piece of

informationwork - a job, a position

knowledge - a factluggage - a piece of luggage, a

bag, a suitcasemoney - a note, a coinmusica – a song, a piecenews - a piece of newspasta - a plate of pasta, a

serving of pastaresearch - a piece of research,

a research projecttravel - a journey, a trip

Here are some more common uncountable food types

with their container / quantity expressions:

liquids (water, beer, wine, etc.) - a glass, a bottle, a jug of water, etc.cheese - a slice, a chunk, a piece of cheesemeat - a piece, a slice, a pound of meatbutter - a bar of butterketchup, mayonnaise, mustard - a bottle of, a tube of ketchup, etc.

EXERCISES

Identify the following objects as countable or uncountable.

1. Q: Information 4. Q: Money

a) countable a) countable

b) uncountable b) uncountable

2. Q: Rules 5. Q: Rice

a) countable a) countable

b) uncountable b) uncountable

3. Q: Sheep 6. Q: Bottles Of Wine a) countable a) countable

b) uncountable b) uncountable

Put in order the countable and uncountable nouns

cup, plate, fork, sugar, salt, bottle, cheese, coin, water, milk, box, litre, tea, coffee, suitcase, bag, ham, cake, dollar, animal, man, person, equipment, traffic, talent, web site, clothes, music, desert, land, nation, fish, pollution, food.

EXERCISESKEY

Identify the following objects as countable or uncountable. 1. Q: Information 4. Q: Money

a) countable a) countable

b) uncountable b) uncountable

2. Q: Rules 5. Q: Rice

a) countable a) countable

b) uncountable b) uncountable

3. Q: Sheep 6. Q: Bottles Of Wine a) countable a) countable

b) uncountable b) uncountable

Put in order the countable and uncountable nouns

COUNTABLE UNCOUNTABLE

cupplateforkbottlecoinboxlitresuitcasebagdollaranimalmanpersonweb siteclothesdesertnation

sugarsaltcheesewatermilkteacoffeehamcakeequipmenttraffictalentmusiclandfishpollutionfood