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Countable and uncountable nouns

Introduction

Nouns are countable or uncountable.



Uses

Countable nouns

Most English nouns are countable and have singular and plural forms. We can count countable nouns:

One car               One man                One person              One child

Two cars             Three men             Four people             Five children

 

 

Uncountable nouns

 

We cannot count uncountable nouns and they cannot usually be plural.

 

One water              luggage            information         metal               rice              work

Two waters            salt                   coffee                  money             music          hair

 


 Categories of uncountable nouns:

 

Category

Examples

 

Abstract

 

happiness, health, love, fun, help, peace, progress, beauty, knowledge, intelligence, luck, music, time, space, energy, news

 

 

Language and nationality

 

 

English, French, Spanish, Turkish, grammar, slang, vocabulary

 

Food

 

 

bread, butter, chicken, beef, meat, pork, cheese, fish

 

Sport and leisure

 

 

dance, football, golf, basketball, Monopoly, chess, bridge

 

Academic subjects and professions

 

 

geography, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, politics, law, music

 

Gas

 

 

gas, air, oxygen, smoke, smog, pollution, steam, exhaust

 

Liquid

 

 

water, coffee, tea, milk, wine, soup, blood, beer

 

Mass nouns

 

 

clothes, luggage, money, homework, furniture, fruit, rubbish, traffic, trousers, jeans, shorts, scissors

 

 

Nature

 

 

weather, rain, snow, thunder, fire, electricity, sunshine,  heat

 

 

Material

 

 

chalk, silver, cement, wood, cloth, glue, wool, metal

 

Particles

 

 

corn, rice, dust, flour, sugar, salt, pepper, dirt, wheat, popcorn

 


However, we sometimes use uncountable nouns for food and drink with numbers and in a plural form:

 

France is famous for its cheeses                         = different kinds of cheese

 

Can I have two coffees and one tea, please?      = two cups of coffee and one cup of tea

 

And can I have two sugars in the tea?                 = two spoonfuls of sugar

 

Hawaii is famous for its fishes.                             = types of fish

 

 

How to use numbers with uncountable nouns


Uncountable nouns cannot generally have an 's' at the end to indicate plurals so there are special ways to indicate numbers with these nouns.

 

We use a prepositional phrase with 'of'. For example:

 

I saw six drops of rain running down the window pane.

 

I bought two bags of sugar.

 

We ordered three pieces of equipment.

 

 

 

Another way to do this is to use the uncountable noun as an adjective before a countable noun. For example:

 

The PC was delivered with seven software applications already installed.



 

Exception


Note that some nouns can be either countable or uncountable depending on the meaning:

 

Countable

Uncountable

 

I've been to Italy three times.

[on three occasions]

 

I don't have enough time to finish the report.

[time generally]

 

 

There are a lot of lights in my office.

[individual lights]

 

 

There's a lot of light in my office.

[from the sun or from lights]

 

My house has six rooms.

 

There isn't a lot of room in the kitchen.

[room = space; the kitchen is very small.]

 

 

The farm has a barn full of chickens.

[whole birds]

 

 

I would like chicken for lunch.

[the meat]

 

There's a hair in my food!

[a single strand of hair]

 

 

She has long, black hair.

 

 

We had some great experiences on holiday.

[things that happened]

 

She has a lot of experience in sales.

[knowledge and practice]

 

 

 

I hear noises outside my window.

[some different noises]

 

There is a lot of noise in my office.

[general noise]