Did you know that not all nouns are countable in English? Knowing the difference between countable and uncountable nouns can help you in many areas of English grammar. 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)
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)
To work on the exercises online:
Countable vs. Uncontable agendaweb
To download the Homework for Monday: Grammar Success exercises
For games on the same topic (we'll practice them next Monday, so don't look the web ahead):
Countable vs. uncountable games