countable and uncountable nouns
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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