Countable nouns
Some nouns refer to things which, in English, are treated as separate items which can be counted. These are called countable nouns. Here are some examples:
acar, threecars
mycousin, my twocousins
abook, a box full ofbooks
acity, several bigcities
Singular and plural
Countable nouns can be singular or plural. They can be used witha/anand with numbers and many other determiners (e.g.these, a few):
She’s gottwosistersandayoungerbrother.
Most people buythingslikecamerasandMP3-playersonlinethesedays.
Theseshoeslook old now.
I’ll takea few magazineswith me forthe flight.
See also:
Determiners (the, my,some,this)
Singular and plural nouns
Nouns
Uncountable nouns
In English grammar, some things are seen as a whole or mass. These are called uncountable nouns, because they cannot be separated or counted.
Some examples of uncountable nouns are:
Ideas and experiences:advice, information, progress, news, luck, fun, work
Materials and substances:water, rice, cement, gold, milk
Weather words:weather, thunder, lightning, rain, snow
Names for groups or collections of things:furniture, equipment, rubbish, luggage
Other common uncountable nouns include:accommodation, baggage, homework, knowledge, money, permission, research, traffic, travel.
These nouns are not used witha/anor numbers and are not used in the plural.
We’re going to get newfurniturefor the living room.
Not:We’re going to get a new furniture for the living room. orWe’re going to get new furnitures for the living room.
We had terribleweatherlast week.
Not:We had a terrible weather last week.
We needricenext time we go shopping.
Some nouns always have plural form but they are uncountable because we cannot use numbers with them.
I boughttwo pairs of trousers.
Not:I bought two trousers.
Other nouns of this type are:shorts, pants, pyjamas, glasses(for the eyes),binoculars, scissors.
Some nouns which are uncountable in English are countable in other languages (e.g.accommodation, advice, furniture, information):
They can give you someinformationaboutaccommodationat the tourist office.
Not:They can give you some informations about accommodations at the tourist office.
Can you give me someadviceabout buying a second-hand car?
Not:Can you give me some advices about buying a second-hand car?
A good learner’s dictionary will tell you whether a noun is countable or uncountable.
Quantity expressions (a bit/piece)
To refer to one or more quantities of an uncountable noun, expressions such asa bit of, a piece of,an item ofor words for containers and measures must be used:
He boughtavery expensivepiece of furniturefor his new apartment.
Maggie always has some excitingbits of newswhen she comes to see us.
I think we’ll needfive bags of cementfor the patio.
There’sa litre of milkin the fridge for you. And I bought youa bar of chocolate.
Determiners (my, some, the)
Uncountable nouns can be used with certain determiners (e.g.my, her,some, any,no,the, this, that) and expressions of quantity (e.g.a lot of, (a) little):
They gave mesome informationabout courses and scholarships and things.
Have you heardthe news? Fran’s getting engaged.
She’s been studying hard and has madea lot of progress.
There’sno workto do here, so you can go home if you like.
This milk’s a bit old, I’m afraid.
See also:
Determiners (the, my,some,this)
Countable phrases for uncountable nouns
We can sometimes use countable noun phrases to talk about an individual example of the thing an uncountable nounrefers to.
uncountable | countable |
accommodation | a house, a flat, a place to live, a place to stay |
baggage/luggage | a suitcase, a bag, a rucksack |
bread | a loaf (of bread), a (bread) roll |
lightning | a flash of lightning |
luck | a stroke of luck |
money | a note, a coin, a sum of money, a euro, a dollar |
poetry | a poem |
rain | a shower, a downpour, a storm |
travel | a journey, a trip |
work | a job, a task |
Findinga place to liveis difficult if you’re a student and you’ve got no money.(orFindingaccommodation…)
Not:Finding an accommodation…
She broughttwo big suitcasesanda rucksackwith her.
Not:She brought two big luggages…
I reada poemonce about someone riding a horse at night.
Not:I read a poetry…
We went ona tripto the Amazon when we were in Brazil.
Not:We went on a travel…
Countable and uncountable nouns with different meanings
Some nouns can be used either countably or uncountably, but with different meanings.
Countable use | Uncountable use |
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Uncountable nouns used countably
Measures and examples
Sometimes uncountable nouns are used countably, to mean ‘a measure of something’ or ‘a type or example of something’:
Can I havetwo teasandone coffee, please?(two cups of tea and one cup of coffee …?)
A:How manysugarsdo you want in your tea?(How many spoonfuls/lumps of sugar?)
B:Just one, please.
To some degree we tend to eat thefoodsthat we ate as children.(i.e. types of food)
Abstract nouns
Some abstract nouns can be used uncountably or countably. The uncountable use has a more general meaning. The countable use has a more particular meaning.
Nouns of this type include:education, experience, hatred, help, knowledge, life, love, sleep, time, understanding.
uncountable use | countable use |
(education in general) |
(the time one person spent at school) |
(love in general/all love) |
(a specific liking for something) |
(all knowledge/knowledge in general) |
(a specific type of knowledge) |
(time in general) |
(a specific period of time) |