Countable & Uncountable!
Countable and uncountable nouns
Nouns can be either countable or uncountable. Countable nouns (or count nouns) are those that refer to something that can be counted. They have both singular and plural forms (e.g. cat/cats; woman/women; country/countries). In the singular, they can be preceded by a or an. Most nouns come into this category.
A smaller number of nouns do not typically refer to things that can be counted and so they do not regularly have a plural form: these are known as uncountable nouns (or mass nouns). Examples include: rain, flour, earth, wine, or wood. Uncountable nouns can't be preceded by aor an. Many abstract nouns are typically uncountable, e.g. happiness, truth, darkness, humour.
Some uncountable nouns can be used in the plural as well, depending on the meaning or context of the word.
Use of much / many
The words much and many mean a lot of.
- If a noun is in singular, we use much
- Example:
- much money
- If a noun is in plural, we use many
- Example:
- many friends
In everyday English, we normally use much / many only in questions and negative clauses.
- Example:
- How much money have you got?
- Carla does not have many friends.
- For Countable Nouns We use Many in the questios:
- For example: How many Strawberries do you need?
- For Uncountable Nouns we use much?
- Example: How much sugar do you want?
- ACTIVITY
Decide whether these nouns are countable (C) or uncountable (U)
- The children are playing in the garden.
- I don't like milk.
- I prefer tea.
- Scientists say that the environment is threatened by pollution.
- My mother uses butter to prepare cakes.
- There are a lot of windows in our classroom.
- We need some glue to fix this vase.
- The waiters in this restaurant are very professional.
- My father drinks two big glasses of water every morning.
- The bread my mother prepares is delicious.