Topic: Nouns

Day 3: Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Countable and Uncountable

Nouns in English are very different from nouns in Chinese. Some of them can be counted and some cannot. We call the nouns that can be counted countable nouns and those that cannot be counted uncountable nouns.

Uncountable nouns are all singular. Only countable nouns have singular and plural forms. As a result, there is no “a” in front of an uncountable noun even if it is always singular. And of course, you can never add an “s” after an uncountable noun as it is always singular.

Types of Uncountable Nouns

How do we know whether a noun is singular or plural? If a noun belongs to one of these types, it is very likely to be an uncountable noun.

a. Liquid and gas

e.g. water, soup, juice, blood, washing-up liquid, oil, petrol, town gas

b. Materials

e.g. wood, iron, coal, wool, cloth, cotton, silk, leather, skin

c. Small and Fine things

e.g. hair, rice, sand, snow, flour, sugar salt, spaghetti, washing powder, paper

d. Collective/Things cannot be divided/a Concept

e.g. ice, money, food, furniture, weather, luggage, accommodation, equipment, information, news

e. Abstract nouns

e.g. advice, knowledge, progress, research, courage, happiness, bravery, beauty

How to count uncountable nouns?

We can count the uncountable nouns by counting the containers! For example, we cannot say a sugar, but we can say “a bag of sugar”! And we will say “two bags of sugar”! Here are some common expressions to count uncountable nouns.

a bar of chocolate/soap	a bottle of water/wine
a breath of fresh air	a can of coke/lemon tea/beer
a carton of juice/milk	a cup of coffee/tea
a game of tennis	a glass of coke/juice/milk
a jar of honey/beer	a bag of rice
a loaf of bread	a litre of milk/juice/water
a piece of advice/paper/furniture	a pound of butter/cheese/meat
a roll of film/toilet paper	a tin/bowl of soup
a tael of gold/silver	a tube of toothpaste
a spoonful of salt	a lump of coal