1. Countable and Uncountable Nouns

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Countable nouns have a plural form
Singular: a car
an eggplant
three
Plural: some dolls
many

5. 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:

6. Uncountable Nouns music, art, love, happiness
advice, information, news
furniture, luggage
rice, sugar, butter, water
electricity, gas, power
money, currency

7. This news is very important. Your luggage looks heavy.
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:
A piece of… cheese
A bowl of… soup
A cup of… tea
A bottle of…wine
A carton of…milk
A bar of… chocolate

8. Here are some of the most common containers / quantity expressions for these uncountable nouns:
advice - a piece of advice
baggage - a piece of baggage
bread - a slice of bread, a loaf of bread
equipment - a piece of equipment
furniture - a piece of furniture
garbage - a piece of garbage
information - a piece of information
knowledge - a fact
luggage - a piece of luggage, a bag, a suitcase
money - a note, a coin
musica – a song, a piece
news - a piece of news
pasta - a plate of pasta, a serving of pasta
research - a piece of research, a research project
travel - a journey, a trip
work - a job, a position

9. 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 cheese meat - a piece, a slice, a pound of meat butter - a bar of butter ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard - a bottle of, a tube of ketchup, etc.

10. EXERCISES

11. Identify the following objects as countable or uncountable.
1. Q: Information Q: Money
a) countable a) countable
b) uncountable b) uncountable
2. Q: Rules Q: Rice
3. Q: Sheep Q: Bottles Of Wine
a) countable a) countable

12. 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.

13. EXERCISES
KEY

14. Identify the following objects as countable or uncountable.
1. Q: Information Q: Money
a) countable a) countable
b) uncountable b) uncountable
2. Q: Rules Q: Rice
3. Q: Sheep Q: Bottles Of Wine
a) countable a) countable

15. Put in order the countable and uncountable nouns
cup
plate
fork
bottle
coin
box
litre
suitcase
bag
dollar
animal
man
person
web site
clothes
desert
nation
sugar
salt
cheese
water
milk
tea
coffee
ham
cake
equipment
traffic
talent
music
land
fish
pollution
food