REVISION: COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

GOING BACK TO THE
ROOT OF THE
LANGUAGE

Countable and
Uncountable
Nouns

Be with me…DZ

COUNTABLE NOUNS

COUNTABLE NOUNS

~Things we can count using numbers.
~Take a singular and a plural form.
~The singular form can use the determiner "a" or "an".
~To ask about the quantity of a countable noun, we use
"How many?" combined with the plural countable noun for example,
“How many friends do you have?”

Singular Plural

One cat Two cats
One horse Two horses
One girl Two girls
One idea Two ideas
One house Two houses

COUNTABLE NOUNS

Anything that can be counted, whether singular – a dog, a
car, a pen, etc. or plural – a few books, lots of apples, etc. is
a countable noun. We use quantifiers like many, a few, a
lot of with countable nouns. Look at more examples on
countable nouns.

1. There are at least ten Indian restaurants in Little India.
2. Megan took a lot of photographs when she went to the
Grand Canyon.
3. Your book is on the kitchen table.
4. How many candles are on that birthday cake?
5. You have several paintings to study in the art class.
6. There’s a big black dog running around the
neighborhood.

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

~Things that we cannot count with numbers.
~They may be the names for abstract ideas (feelings like hatred, love) or
~qualities or for physical objects that are too small or too amorphous to
be counted (water, powder, gas, etc.).
~Uncountable nouns are used with a singular verb.

~They usually do not have a plural form.

tea air beauty love safety
sugar rice anger money evidence
water knowledge fear research happiness

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

~We cannot use a/an with these nouns.
~To express a quantity of an uncountable noun, use a word or
expression like some, a lot of, much, a bit of, a great deal of , or else use
an exact measurement like a cup of, a bag of, 1kg of, 1L of, a handful
of, a pinch of, an hour of, a day of.
~If you want to ask about the quantity of an uncountable noun, you
ask "How much?"

EXAMPLES

1.There has been a lot of research done to find the vaccine for Covid-19.

2.My father gave me a great deal of advice before I went for my first interview.

3. Can you give me some information about the accident?

4. My mother asked me to buy a kilogram of sugar because she did not have
much sugar left.

5. First, Puan Noraini asked us to measure 1 cup of water, 100g of flour, and
1 teaspoon of salt.

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

BE CAREFUL OF THE TRICKY SPOTS

Some nouns are countable in other languages but
uncountable in English. They must follow the rules for
uncountable nouns. The most common ones are:

accommodation behavior informati progress trouble
on

advice bread luggage traffic weather

baggage furniture news travel work

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

EXAMPLES :

~As a friend, I would like to give you some advice.

~How much bread should I bring for the picnic?

~I do not make much progress today because my
internet connection is bad.

~This looks like a lot of trouble to me especially to
finish it on time.

~We did an hour of work yesterday although it was
supposed to be our off day.

BE CAREFUL

REMEMBER…

Be careful with the noun hair which is normally
uncountable in English, so it is not used in the plural.
It can be countable only when referring to
individual hairs.

~Adlina has long black hair.
~The girl’s hair was curly.
~I wash my hair three times a week.
~My grandmother is getting a few grey hairs now.
(refers to individual hairs)
~The customer was angry because he found a hair
in his soup! (refers to a single strand of hair)

PRACTICE 1

Just write down “C” for countable nouns and
“UC” for uncountable nouns.

NO NOUNS C/UC NO NOUNS C/UC

1 Idea 6 Knowledge
2 Man 7 Lady
3 Happiness 8 Child
4 Birthday cake 9 Mouse
5 Air 10 Grass

PRACTICE 2

Write down whether the nouns are UC or C.

1. The children ( ) fell asleep quickly after a busy day ( ) and they had a lot of

fun ( ).

2. “Be careful! The water ( ) is deep. Look, the girls ( ) are swimming there.
Please tell them to be careful. Take care of your brother ( ) too, Lili,” my mother
screamed at me.

3. We stopped at the shop ( )and bought a large bottle of mineral water ( ) and

some sweets ( ). Our father waited in the car ( )and my mother was busy

answering a call ( ).

4. My mother uses real butter ( ) in the cakes ( ) she bakes.

5. How many teachers ( ) does it take to persuade John to enter the class ( )?
He really dislikes Mathematics ( ) and he always does not finish the

homework ( ) given by Mr Malik.

6. Shelly used to comb her hair ( ) after she took her bath. One day, she noticed
that there are several hairs ( ) with split ends and she knew that she badly needed
a hair treatment ( ).

PRACTICE 3

Underline all the nouns and write them in the
brackets. You also need to identify whether they
are C or UC.

Example:
1. Most kids like milk , but Azim hates it. He prefers tea.

Most kids like milk , but Azim hates it. He prefers tea.
(milk-UC; tea-UC)

1. My mother prepared fried rice for breakfast. I helped
her with sandwiches and my sister prepared a jug of
milo.

2. Michael can play several different musical
instruments. I really envy him because I only can play a
guitar.

PRACTICE 3 :
CONTINUATION

3. I was feeling so stressed that I ate an entire box of
cookies. My friend gave me some advice as not to
take too many of the cookies because they could
give negative effects to my health.

4. There is no more water in the bottles. Can you fill
them up?

5. Please help yourself to some cheese and a glass
of lemonade.

6. I need to find information about The Best Reader
Prize winners. I have to do a report about it.

PRACTICE 3 :
CONTINUATION

7. With your level of intelligence, you should go to a
good college.

8. Please take good care of your equipment
because we have to be responsible for it ourselves.
The boat to Perhentian Island will arrive soon.

9. Let’s get rid of the garbage, we want our
environment to be clean.

10. I felt irritated when I found a hair in my fried rice.
I called the waiter to complain about it.

PRACTICE 1 3. UC 4. C ANSWER KEY :
8. C 9. C PRACTICE 1 AND 2
1. C 2. C
6. UC 7. C 5. UC
10. UC

PRACTICE 2

1. C, C, UC
2. UC, C, C
3. C, UC, C, C, C
4. UC, C
5. C,C, UC, UC
6. UC, C, C

HOW IS YOUR PERFORMANCE SO FAR?
HOPEFULLY YOU ARE DOING GREAT.

ANSWER KEY :
PRACTICE 3

1. rice (UC); sandwiches (C); milo (UC)
2. Musical instruments (C) ; guitar ( C)
3. Cookies (UC); advice (UC); effects (C); health ( UC)
4. Water (UC); bottles ( C)
5. Cheese ( UC); lemonade (UC)
6. Information (UC); winners ( C)
7. Intelligence (UC); college ( C)
8. Equipment (UC); boat ( C)
9. Garbage (UC); environment (UC)
10. Hair (C); waiter ( C)

STAY AT HOME
LET’S BREAK THIS
COVID-19 CHAIN