B Ing Countable Uncountable Nouns

COUNTABLE/
UNCOUNTABLE
NOUNS
There are 2 kinds of noun in
English:
 Countable  Uncountable
 Things you can count  Things you can´t count
(singular or plural) (they can’t be plural)
 One apple, two apples,  Butter, meat…
three apples…
COUNTABLE NOUNS
 Countable nouns have a plural form
 Singular: a car
 an eggplant

COUNTABLE NOUNS
 Countables nouns are easy to recognize, since they

are things we can count.
They can be Singular or Plural

-Example
My Cat is White
My Cats are White
COUNTABLE NOUNS
SINGULAR FORM PLURAL FORM
 a mobile phone  five mobile phones

 a computer  seven computers
 a business magazine  three business
 an english book magazines
 a dictionary  nine english books
 eleven dictionaries
UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
Uncountable nouns are the nouns that we cannot

divide into separate elements. We cannot "count"
them.
For example, we cannot count "milk". We can count
"bottles of milk" ( quantifiers) , but we cannot
count "milk" itself.
Some Examples with Uncountable
Nouns
 I drink a cup of coffee in everyday.
 My mother buys seven bottles of milk for a week.
 She eats a bar of chocolate whenever she wants.
 He met me with a bunch of flower in his arms.
 There is so much butter in this meal.
 Everybody feels the love inside himself.
UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
Notice the following categories and examples of
uncountable nouns;
 Foods: beef, bread, fish, fruit, meat…

 Gases: air, carbon dioxide, oxygen, smoke…
 Liquids: coffee, gasoline, milk, tea, water…
 Natural phenomena: electricity, heat, rain,
thunder…
 Others: furniture, money, news, salt, sand, sugar…
a/an / some/ any
A / AN / SOME / ANY
Type of sentence Countable Uncountable
+ We need an apple some butter
some apples some milk
- We don’t need a tomato any rice
any tomatoes any sugar
? Do we need a tomato? any rice?
any tomatoes? any sugar?
 Use a / an with singular countable nouns.
 Use some with plural countable nouns and uncountable nouns in +
sentences.
 Use any with plural countable nouns and uncountable nouns in – or ?
sentences.
 We can also use some in ? to ask for and offerings:
 Can I have some coffee?
 Do you want some water?
© Rafael Moreno Esteban 2007
I’d like some juice.
unspecified quantity
I’d like a glass of juice.
specified quantity
Some: Affirmative sentences:
There is some money
Any: Negative and Interrogative

sentences:
Is there any money?
No, there isn’t.
There isn’t any money

7-8 Let’s Practice
some any
I need time to study.

some any
There is _____ cheese.

some any
There aren’t _____ horses in the

field.
Choose a / an / some
 some Milk  some Wine

 some Biscuits
 some Cars
 a Chair
 some People
 some  some Homework
Coffee
 some  some
Pasta Ice cream
 some  an
Money Orange
 some  some
Students Fruit
 some / a  some
Toast Fish
How Much? How Many?
How much / how many…?
 Possible answers:
 Use How much…?  I drink a lot of water.
with uncountable nouns.  I drink quite a lot.
 How much water do you drink?  I don’t drink much water.
 Use How many…? (not much)
 I don’t drink any water.
with plural countable
 None.
nouns.  Not many (students).
 How many students do you
have?
© Rafael Moreno Esteban 2007

How Many or How Much ?
1. How much/ How many cars are

there?
There are six

cars!
2. How much/ How many Sugar is
there?
There are three spoons of sugar

3. How much/ How many pictures
are there?
There are six

pictures.
4. How much/ How many milk is
there?
There are two

boxes of milk
Quantifiers
We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular : We use a
singular verb.
You can count uncountable nouns if you use:

 A piece of… cheese
 A bowl of… soup
 A cup of… tea
 A bottle of…syrup
 A carton of…milk
 A bar of… chocolate

MILK
Here are some more common uncountable food types with
their container / quantity expressions :
 liquids (water, beer, juice etc.) - a glass, a bottle,
a jug of water, etc.
 cheese - a slice, a piece of cheese
 meat - a piece, a slice, a pound of meat
 butter - a bar of butter
 ketchup, mayonnaise - a bottle of, ketchup, etc.
We don’t use indefinite articles (a/an) with uncountable nouns.
We use QUANTIFIERS. Look at the examples:
a sack of rice a loaf of bread a jar of honey
a box of cereal a slice of pizza a cup of coffee

B Ing Countable Uncountable Nouns

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

B Ing Countable Uncountable Nouns

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

B Ing Countable Uncountable Nouns

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

COUNTABLE/

 Countable nouns have a plural form

 Countables nouns are easy to recognize, since they

They can be Singular or Plural

SINGULAR FORM PLURAL FORM

 a mobile phone  five mobile phones

Uncountable nouns are the nouns that we cannot

 Foods: beef, bread, fish, fruit, meat…

I’d like a glass of juice.

Any: Negative and Interrogative

There isn’t any money

I need time to study.

There is _____ cheese.

There aren’t _____ horses in the

 some Milk  some Wine

© Rafael Moreno Esteban 2007

1. How much/ How many cars are

There are six

There are three spoons of sugar

There are six

There are two

You can count uncountable nouns if you use:

 A bowl of… soup

 A cup of… tea

 A bar of… chocolate

a sack of rice a loaf of bread a jar of honey

a box of cereal a slice of pizza a cup of coffee

You might also like