417-102 English II Name:…………………………………..Nickname:…………… ID No. ……………………………………….Group No. ………

Countable Nouns & Uncountable Nouns

Common nouns in English are divided into countable and uncountable nouns. Look at the table for differences.

Countable Uncountable

1) Countable nouns are things or persons that we can count.

Ex. an egg six eggs

one (a) tulip five tulips

a strawberry cherries

1) Uncountable nouns are things that we cannot count.

EX: juice , cheese ,

luggage , money Uncountable nouns also include abstracts, concepts, substance etc. that we cannot divided into separate elements.

Ex: knowledge, love, happiness, advice, information advice, information, news

2) They can be singular or plural (-s/-es)

Ex. many children are on a bus

a mail box boxes

a bench & maple leaves

swim goggles sandals

2) They cannot be singular or plural. There is no plural form for an uncountable noun, we can use quantity phrases* to make uncountable nouns countable

a barrel of petrol a carton of milk

a can of coke tins of food

a bar of chocolate bags of flour

3) Countable noun (singular) can be used with the indefinite article (a, an).

Ex. a shopping bag & a box

an umbrella an artichoke

3) We use uncountable nouns as singular, and use a singular verb. But we cannot use uncountable nouns with the indefinite article (a, an).

Ex: This information is very important.

Your luggage looks heavy.

Quantity Phrases - The Ways to Make Uncountable Nouns Countable

Even we cannot count uncountable nouns; we can make them countable by using the quantity phrases.

However, some of common nouns can be countable and uncountable: light, hair, noise, paper, room, time, work

There are hairs in a crime scene. hair He doesn’t have much hair. Many lights are installed in the theater. light There’s too much light out there. There are many rooms in this house. room Is there room for me to sit here? Harry Potter is one of J.K. Rowling’s works. work She didn’t have money so she needed work.

Put something into a container to count it. The thing doesn’t take the plural form but the container takes the plural form.

a bag of a barrel of honey a bottle of wine a bowl of soup

a box of noodle a bucket of sand a can of beer a carton of popcorn

a cup of coffee a glass of juice a jar of jam a jug of lemonade

a mug of beer a packet of tea a piece of cheese a tank of oxygen

a tin of paint tub of yoghurt a tube of lipstick

Measure something by using a container

a litre of milk a pint of beer a pound of cake an once of flour

Measure something by using its shape or portions

a ball of wool a bar of soap a block of butter a pinch of salt

a spoon of sugar loaves of bread slices of meat

Quantifiers for Countable Nouns & Uncountable Nouns

What are quantifiers? Quantifiers are words that are used to show quantity or amount of something (Plural countable nouns and uncountable nouns) for answering the questions “How many?” and “How much?” Quantifiers can be divided into three types according to the common nouns to be used with: 1) countable nouns, 2) uncountable nouns, and 3) either countable or uncountable nouns.

Quantifiers w/ C.N. to answer “How many?”

Quantifiers w/ U.N. to answer “How much?”

Quantifiers w/ both C. & UC.N. to answer “How many/How much?”

few a few (not) many

little a little a bit of (not) much

no/ none not any

many (too/so) many several a (large/great) number of a majority of

much (too/so) much a great deal of a large amount of a large quantity of

some / any a lot of lots of plenty of

much or many Much is used with non count nouns (always in the singular)

• There is much room in this hall. • Much whisky is of very good quality.

Many is used with count nouns in the plural. • There are many rooms in this house. • Many bottles of whisky are on the table.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Much and many are very commonly used in negative (not much, not many) contexts and questions.

some or any (quantifiers & articles)

Some is used with positive (+) sentences and when asking a question, if the answer the expected answer to be positive.

• I’ve got some apples in my basket and some water in a bottle. • Please buy some bananas. • Why don't you take some books home with you?”

Any is used with negative (-) sentences and when asking a question. It is used when a sentence is grammatically positive, but the meaning of the sentence is negative.

• I don't have any money today. • Do you have any ice cream left?

enough Enough is placed before the noun, to indicate the quantity required or necessary, as a sufficient quantity. (+ _ ?)

• We can get tickets for the concert, I've got enough money now. • We didn't have enough time to visit London Bridge. • Have you got enough milk for breakfast?

a few and a little A few and a little have a positive meaning that there is not a lot of something, but there is enough. The meaning is similar to ‘some’, and gives the idea of ‘better than nothing’, ‘just enough’, ‘more than expected’ or ‘enough to be noticed’. A few (for countable nouns)

• A few paintings in this gallery are really good. A little (for uncountable nouns)

• I've got a little money left; let's go and have a drink. few and little Few and little usually have a negative meaning that is not enough of

something. They suggest ‘not as much/many as one would like’ or ‘not as much/many as expected’. Few (for countable nouns)

• Few people visited him in hospital (= he had almost no visitors) • Few tourists have bought the tour packet in Thailand due to the

political crisis last year. Little (for uncountable nouns)

• Hurry up; there's little time left! (not enough time) • He had little money (= almost no money)

Fill in the gaps with one of quantifiers: much, many, a lot of, most, a little, little, a few, few

1. It seems to me that we haven't had _______________ assignments in English this term.

2. How _______________ material can we be expected to read in one week?

3. I've unfortunately had _______________ headaches already because of stress.

4. Our yard looks awful this summer. There are too _______________ weeds.

5. I didn't use _______________ fertilizer last spring, and that has made a difference.

6. We're afraid it's rained _______________ times this summer, and that is why the grass is turning brown and dying. Farmers are very upset.

7. How _______________ good would it do if we watered the plants ourselves?

8. _______________ of the advice I have ever received from so-called "experts" has been useless.

9. They said that just _______________ help could make a big difference.

10. _______________ people know as much about computers as Tomas does.