Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Countable Nouns

Countable nouns are nouns that can be counted. Most nouns in English are countable.

Examples:

• I have two dogs.
• Sandra has three cars.
• Jessie has ten dollars.

Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable nouns are not counted in English. This usually has to do with the way English speakers think of these nouns. We often picture these nouns as a single concept or one big thing which is hard to divide. Many of these words are countable in other languages, but they ARE NOT countable in English. Generally, we do not use plural forms of these words; however some of these words do end in "s", so don't get confused.

Examples:

• Mack drinks a lot of water.
• Cindy gives great advice.
• Paul enjoys politics. Ends with "s" but uncountable

Uncountable nouns tend to belong to one of the following categories:

Liquids and Gases

• water
• coffee
• milk
• air
• oxygen

Solid and Granular Substances

• wood
• metal
• cheese
• sand
• rice

Energy Words and Forces

• electricity
• sunshine
• radiation
• heat
• magnetism

Subjects

• French
• chemistry
• economics
• science
• math

Grouped Concepts

• fruit
• money
• food
• vocabulary
• news

Information and Abstract Concepts

• information
• advice
• education
• democracy
• intelligence

Uncountable Plurals

Sometimes in English, we do use uncountable nouns in plural forms. This is most commonly done with liquids and substances. It usually takes on the meaning of "cups of", "bottles of" or "types of".

Examples:

• We'll have two coffees. Cups of coffee
• I bought three waters. Bottles of water
• The company produces two leathers. Types of leather

Assessment

Exercise 1

Underline the noun in each sentence and write ‘C’ or ‘U’ to show whether the noun is countable or uncountable.

1.      That is a very good painting. __________

2.      I don’t like coffee. __________

3.      I need two clean glasses. __________

4.      She bought a new iron yesterday. __________

5.      They’ve got plenty of coal. __________

6.      Would you like some chicken? __________

7.      Too much cake isn’t good for you. __________

8.      She ate a whole chicken. __________.

9.      How much flour did you buy? __________.

10.  Hope keeps me going. __________

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Exercise 2

Use the correct form of the given nouns to complete the following sentences.

language      party       fun      vegetable      information

     fruit          money     hair      advice        sleeve

1.      We can buy fresh _______________ from the supermarket.

2.      Mrs. Lee went to the travel agent for some _______________ about the tour to Japan.

3.      I can’t wear this shirt. The _______________ are too long.

4.      How many _______________ does Jenny speak?

5.      Miss Ng spends a lot of _______________ on clothes.

6.      I don’t know what to do. Please give me some _______________.

7.      Karen has beautiful _______________.

8.      We had a lot of _______________ at the party last night.

9.      Susan enjoys going to _______________.

10.  Alan eats a lot of _______________.    

Exercise 3

Choose the correct answer.

1.      She burst into _______________ (tear/ tears) when she heard the bad news.

2.      Peter and Jack shake _______________ (hand/ hands) and become friends again.

3.      She can’t see what is written on the blackboard without her contact _______________ (len/ lens)

4.      The two sisters took _______________ (turn/ turns) at sitting up with their sick mother.

5.      Quite a number of _______________ (DJ/ DJs) have extended their careers to singing.

6.      If you want to get well, you should take the doctor’s _______________ (advice/ advices).

7.      Mary never does her _______________ (homework/ homeworks)

8.      Johnny has lost his _______________ (luggage/ luggages).

9.      The factory workers stopped working and took (a rest/ rest).

10.  The children sat on the _______________ (grass/ grasses).

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Exercise 4

Underline the incorrect word in each sentence and write the correct word in the space provided.

1. He takes part in a lot of extracurricular activitys.             ______________

2. I always put three teaspoon of sugar in my coffee.            ______________

3. The field is full of sheeps.                               ______________

4. The thief was wearing jean.                              ______________

5. Money cannot buy happinesses.                           ______________ 

6. They want to finish the job themself.                       ______________

7. How many piece of cheese would you like?                  ______________

8. A mice was hiding under the table.                         ______________

9. Three passer-bys were shot in the raid.                      ______________

10.Put on more cloth or you will get a cold.                    ______________

Worksheets

Countables - Uncountables

Countables – Uncountables

What’s the difference?

Look at the underlined nouns. Are they countable or uncountable?

1. There was a car behind us.        Countable          
2. I never eat meat.                      Uncountable
3. Do you play golf?                       Uncountable
4. I had to wait ten minutes.         countable
5. Just tell me one thing.              countable
6. Love makes the world go round. Uncountable
7. Good luck in your new job.          Uncountable
8. Power stations produce energy. Uncountable
9. I’m taking a photo.                    Countable
10. Would you like an apple?            countable

Countable and uncountable nouns

Complete the conversation. Choose the correct form.

J:       What are you doing Andrew?

A:      I’m writing essay/an essay.

J:      Oh, you’ve got computer/a computer. Do you always write essay/essays on your computer?

A:      Yes, but I am not doing very well today. I’m working on my plan for about three hour/hours now.

J:      You’ve got lots of books to help you, though. I haven’t got as much/many books as you. That’s because I haven’t got much money/moneys. Quite often I can’t even afford to buy food/foods.

A:      Really? That can’t be many/much fun

J:      I’d like to get job/a job I can do in my spare time and earn a/some money. I’ve got a few/a little ideas, but what do you think I should do?

A:      I know someone who paints picture/pictures and sells them. Why don’t you do that?

J:       Because I’m no good at painting.

What did Tom buy at the supermarket?

Use of.

Milk:                      1 bottle of milk…….……………………………

1 kilo Flour:            1 kilo of flour…..…………………………………

Jam:                      A Jar of jam………………………………………

Matches:               A box of matches………………………………

2 bread:                2 loaves of bread………………………………

Chocolate:              A bar of chocolate……………………………

5 kilos potatoes:    5 kilos of potatoes……………………………

Breakfast cereal:   1 carton of breakfast cereal.…………

2 Mineral water:    2 bottles of mineral water………………

Toothpaste:           1 tube of toothpaste…..……………………

Complete the sentence. Put in a/an or some.

1. I really ought to do some housework.
2. The people who camped in the field have left some rubbish.
3. I’ve been working on the business plan. I’ve made some progress.
4. The visitors are here for two nights. They are looking for some accommodation.
5. That shop has a nice sofa.
6. You will have to pay extra for the taxi because you’ve got some luggage.
7. The flat is quite empty. I need some furniture.
8. I can’t possibly fit this guitar into a suitcase.
9. You need some luck to win this game.

A potato or potato? A sport or sport?

Complete the conversations. Choose the correct form.

1. Can I pick an apple/some apple from your tree? –Yes, of course.
2. I think sport/a sport is boring. –So do I. I hate it.
3. We ought to buy some potato/some potatoes. –OK, I’ll get them.
4. I think painting/a painting is a fascinating hobby. –Well you’re certainly very good at it.

5. Did you hear noise/a noise in the middle of the night? –No, I don’t think so.
6. Is there cheese/a cheese in this soup? –Yes, a little.
7. Shall I put a chicken/some chicken in your sandwiches? –Yes, please.
8. I had conversation/a conversation with Vicky last night. –Oh, what about?
9. Are you a pacifist? –Well, I don’t believe in war/a war, so I suppose I am.
10. It isn’t fair. –No, life/ a life just isn’t fair, I’m afraid.
11. What’s the matter? –You’ve got some egg/some eggs on your shirt.

Complete Claire’s postcard to her sister. Choose the correct form.

This island is very peaceful. Life/A life is good here. Everybody moves at a nice slow pace. People have time/a time to stop and talk. It’s experience/an experience I won’t forget for a long time. There aren’t many shops, so I can’t spend all my money, although I did buy painting/a painting yesterday. Now I’m sitting on the beach reading paper/a paper. The hotel breakfast is so enormous that I don’t need to have lunch. I’ve just brought orange/an orange with me to eat later. I’ve been trying all the different fruit/fruits grown in this part of the world, and they are all delicious.

Most of these sentences have a mistake in them. Correct them, or if there is no mistake, write right.

1. I believe it’s very difficult to find a cheap accommodation in London.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2. We are looking for a place to rent.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. We are late because they are re-surfacing the motorway and the traffics are terrible.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

4. He was asked to leave the college because of a bad behaviour at the end of term party.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5. I’m going to phone my brother to wish him good luck for his driving test.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

6. I think it’s a pity Rebecca had her hairs cut short because she looked much more attractive before.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

7. It’s not a bad room, but the furnitures take up too much space.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

8. As an old friend, may I give you an advice?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

9. If we don’t have up-to-date information, how can we make sensible decisions?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

10. Fortunately, the check-up was less unpleasant experience than I had expected.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Fill the spaces in the following conversation with one of the words in the box. Sometimes you need the plural (-s), and some of the words are used more than once.

case     –     day     –     experience     –     luggage     –     paper     –     room     –     scenery     –     weather     -     view    -     suitcase

Mary and Liz are about to go on a holiday together. Mary has come to collect Liz in her car.

M: Hello Liz are you ready?

L:  Yes, just about. All the luggage is here in the corridor. I hope I haven’t got too many cases.

M: Don’t worry. There’s plenty of room in the car.

L:  Oh, good. I’ve packed rather a lot of things. I haven’t had much experience of travelling in the mountains, so I wasn’t sure what to bring.

M: As long as you’ve got some warm sweaters for the evenings, and a good raincoat, you should be OK. The scenery in the mountains is wonderful, but the weather can change very suddenly.

L:  Well, we’ve got a lovely day to start with.

M: You’re right there. And I am sure you’ll like our room at the hotel, because they’ve promised me the ones I had last year when I was with my brother. Did you pack the guidebook, by the way?

L:  I’ve got it in my pocket. I packed some paper too, so we can write letters.

M: Yes, it’d be nice to keep some sort of diary, too.

L:  That’s a good idea. We might make an album afterwards, with words and photos. And I’m sure I’m going to have some great experiences to write about.

M: I’m sure you will too. The scenery are like nothing you’ve ever seen. And the people are great. There’s always music or something in one of the villages every evening. We’ll buy some local paper when we get there and find out what’s going on this week.

L:  Well, I’m ready!

M: OK, let’s go!

Fill in the following words in order to form useful phrases:

Advice     -     chocolate     -     jam     -     lemonade     -     meat     -     milk     -     oil     -     rice     -     tea     -     tennis     -      sugar

1. a piece of advice
2. a cube of sugar
3. a packet of rice
4. a bar of chocolate
5. a glass of lemonade
6. a cup of tea
7. a bottle of milk
8. a slice of meat
9. a barrel of oil
10. a game of tennis
11. a jar of jam

Choose between much/many/a lot of.

1. My wife has got many clothes.
2. How much does that CD cost?
3. Juan hasn’t got a lot of friends.
4. How much time have we got?
5. Do you have much time to finish this exercise?
6. A lot of people live in Tokyo?
7. I don’t have much information about that.
8. How many packets would you like?
9. I have visited a lot of countries.
10. How much bread do you need?

Choose between a/an/some/any/the/long/much/many.

1. Is there some cheese left?
2. To make pancakes we need some eggs and someflower.
3. How much money do we have left?
4. How many cars are we taking?
5. How many glasses of wine did you drink?
6. Excuse me. I need some information about trains to Guadalajara.
7. Do you know a good restaurants near here?
8. For lunch today I had a salad and a piece of pizza.
9. How much rice do we have left?
10. It’s cold. Don’t open any windows.