Emily Chan DSE English

Lecture 20

© 2012-2013 College.ee™學府. All rights reserved. 香港科學園科技大道西 5號企業廣場 3樓 313室

Lesson Twenty –

Basic Grammar 1 1 Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Emily Chan DSE English

Lecture 20

© 2012-2013 College.ee™學府. All rights reserved. 香港科學園科技大道西 5號企業廣場 3樓 313室

Countable and uncountable nouns

Are these sentences correct?

1. We’re having a terrible weather.

2. My father enjoys a very good health.

3. I had two toasts for breakfast today.

4. The military has new training facilities.

5. This lesson is full of laughters.

6. The sale of printed books dropped rapidly in the past decade due to the invention of e-book.

7. Dr Chu, member of the Public Doctors’ Association, said many medical insurance plans required high

co-payments and provided very small coverage of operation fees.

8. There are a lot of fire-protection equipments.

9. He has rich experiences in teaching the substandard students.

10. Golfers wishing to play the Kau Sai Chau course have had to drive to Sai Kung and take boat to the

island.

11. There are always a lot of exciting news on all sorts of mass media during the World Cup Football

Game.

12. Sometimes, there are also “friendly people” approaching you in the street providing you with “very

Emily Chan DSE English

Lecture 20

© 2012-2013 College.ee™學府. All rights reserved. 香港科學園科技大道西 5號企業廣場 3樓 313室

cheap” items such as jewelry, watches, diamonds and clothing etc.

13. Strange animal behaviour may assist humans in predicting future earthquakes long before they occur.

14. Research on human behaviour reveals various interacting factors of a society.

15. Extensive test of Hong Kong’s water supply have recently been carried out by the Hong Kong

University of Science and Technology.

16. Is our water safe to drink?

17. Don’t worry. The police is coming.

Emily Chan DSE English

Lecture 20

© 2012-2013 College.ee™學府. All rights reserved. 香港科學園科技大道西 5號企業廣場 3樓 313室

Countable nouns

They are individual objects which can be counted such as people, animals, places.

They are usually ____________________________.

A countable noun has a singular and a plural form (the plural may be irregular).

We can use numbers with a countable noun.

E.g.

one person, three ________________

one child, two children

one woman, four women

Emily Chan DSE English

Lecture 20

© 2012-2013 College.ee™學府. All rights reserved. 香港科學園科技大道西 5號企業廣場 3樓 313室

Uncountable nouns

Uncountable nouns are abstract nouns that we cannot divide into separate segments to count them.

An uncountable noun has only __________ form.

We cannot use numbers with an uncountable noun.

E.g. work love progress water information English (language)

Typical uncountable nouns are:

Materials and substances

Abstract ideas

Activities

Human feelings

Verbal nouns, sometimes called gerunds, which are formed from the present participle of verbs, can

also be used as uncountable nouns.

The ringing in his ears continued.

Why don’t you try walking to work?

These words are uncountable in English.

Accommodation, advice, anger, art, baggage, beauty, beef, behaviour, bread, business, cash, clothing,

chaos, chess, chewing gum, conduct, corn, dust, electricity, equipment, evidence, excitement, flu, fruit,

furniture, health, help, homework, housework, information, jewellery, knowledge, laughter, leisure,

lightning, luck, luggage, macaroni, management, money, mud, news, perception, permission, poetry,

pork, power, progress, rainfall, research, rice, rubbish, safety, salt, sand, scenery, soap, spaghetti,

stationery, sugar, thunder, toast, traffic, travel, vocabulary, weather, wheat

Emily Chan DSE English

Lecture 20

© 2012-2013 College.ee™學府. All rights reserved. 香港科學園科技大道西 5號企業廣場 3樓 313室

Singular or plural?

Countable nouns can be singular or plural.

The book is over there.

The books are over there.

Uncountable nouns are always ____________________.

French __________ difficult.

Mr. Lam’s advice ___________ very useful.

With countable nouns we can use a/an and some.

Sue has got a book / some books about Ancient Egypt.

You cannot use singular countable nouns alone.

(without determiners e.g. my / a / one / some).

_________________________________

I want banana.

_________________________________

This is pencil.

You can use plural countable nouns alone.

Birds can fly.

I like apples.

Emily Chan DSE English

Lecture 20

© 2012-2013 College.ee™學府. All rights reserved. 香港科學園科技大道西 5號企業廣場 3樓 313室

With uncountable nouns we cannot use a/an.

Sue has got some money to go on holiday this year. Could I have some information?

You can use a…of.

You have eaten a bowl of rice.

Can you make me a cup of coffee?

Let me give you a ________________ of advice.

You can use uncountable nouns alone.

I eat rice every day.

There’s blood on the floor.

Emily Chan DSE English

Lecture 20

© 2012-2013 College.ee™學府. All rights reserved. 香港科學園科技大道西 5號企業廣場 3樓 313室

Change of meaning

Some words can be countable or uncountable with a change in meaning. The uncountable meaning is more

general.

A business ( )

The two brothers established

a clothes retailing business.

Business (in general)

Our firm does a lot of

business with overseas customers.

A coffee (a cup of coffee)

I’d love a coffee, please.

Coffee (the liquid)

Do you drink coffee? (the liquid)

(applies to all drinks)

An experience (a thing that happened to

me)

I had some interesting experiences

while I was travelling.

Experience (knowledge)

They offered me the job because I had a lot of

experience.

A fish (the animal)

Fish __________ cold-blooded.

Some fish ( a portion of food)

I don't like fish

A glass (for drinking)

Two glasses of milk, please.

Some glass (the material)

Our coffee table is made of glass.

A hair (a single piece)

There are some dog __________ on

the pillow.

Hair (all together)

My mum has long, dark hair.

An iron (for pressing clothes)

My mother bought a steam iron

yesterday.

Some iron (the material)

Iron rusts easily.

A noise (a specific noise)

I heard a strange noise.

Noise (in general)

I can’t stand noise.

A room (a room in a house)

You can stay with us. There is a

spare room.

Room (space)

You can’t sit here. There isn’t room.

A painting (one object)

I bought a painting last week.

Painting (the activity / hobby)

Do you like painting?

A paper (a newspaper)

Could you get me a paper, please?

Some paper (the material)

We shouldn’t waste paper.

Emily Chan DSE English

Lecture 20

© 2012-2013 College.ee™學府. All rights reserved. 香港科學園科技大道西 5號企業廣場 3樓 313室

A stone (one item)

Someone threw a stone at our

window.

Some stone (the material)

The house is made of stone, not concrete.

A wood (a small forest)

It is lovely walking in the woods.

Some wood (the material)

He gathered some wood to build a fire.

A work (a work of art)

The museum has many

works by Picasso

Work (in general)

It takes a lot of __________ to dig a deep well.

Emily Chan DSE English

Lecture 20

© 2012-2013 College.ee™學府. All rights reserved. 香港科學園科技大道西 5號企業廣場 3樓 313室

We can make some uncountable abstract nouns countable if we refer to a specific type of the noun, for

example, distrust a deep distrust, a distrust of accountants. This is common with nouns connected with

emotions.

Jealousy is an enormously destructive emotion.

I felt an incomprehensible jealousy when I saw him with his girlfriend.

Nouns for materials, liquids etc can be countable when they are used to talk about different types.

Not all washing powders are kind to your hands.

We have a selection of fine wines at very good prices.

Compare these countable and uncountable nouns:

Countable Uncountable

I’m looking for a ____________.

What a beautiful __________!

It’s a nice day today.

We had a lot of bags and cases.

These chairs are mine.

That’s a good __________________.

I’m looking for work. (not a work)

What beautiful scenery!

It’s nice weather today.

We had a lot of baggage/luggage.

This furniture is mine.

That’s good advice.

Other groups of nouns

Nouns like athletics, mathematics, news and physics look like they are plural countable nouns, but they

are actually uncountable nouns and are therefore always used with a singular verb.

Athletics is a popular sport in our school.

The word ‘news’ is followed by a singular verb.

The news is on.

There’s a news article in the papers about the accident in our village.

Nouns like military and police look like they are uncountable nouns, but they are actually plural

countable nouns and are therefore always used with a plural verb.

Quick! The police are coming

The military have new training facilities..

Emily Chan DSE English

Lecture 20

© 2012-2013 College.ee™學府. All rights reserved. 香港科學園科技大道西 5號企業廣場 3樓 313室

Exercise

A. Some of these sentences need a/an. Correct the sentences where necessary.

1. Joe goes everywhere by bike. He hasn’t got car. ________________________

2. Helen was listening to music when I arrived. ________________________

3. We went to very nice restaurant last weekend. ________________________

4. I clean my teeth with toothpaste. ________________________

5. I use toothbrush to clean my teeth. ________________________

6. Can you tell me if there’s bank near here? ________________________

7. My brother works for insurance company in London. ________________________

8. I don’t like violence. ________________________

9. Can you smell paint? ________________________

10. When we were in Rome, we stayed in big hotel. ________________________

11. We need petrol. I hope we come to petrol station soon. ________________________

12. I wonder if you can help me. I have problem. ________________________

13. I like your suggestion. It’s very interesting idea. ________________________

14. I like volleyball. It’s good game. ________________________

15. Liz doesn’t usually wear jewellery. ________________________

16. Jane was wearing beautiful necklace. ________________________

B. Which of the underlined parts of these sentences is correct?

1. Mary’s advice was / were not very useful.

2. Peter went to buy a / some glass so he could fix the broken windows.

3. How much / How many furniture shops are there?

4. My trousers need ironing. Have you got a / an / some iron?

5. I’d like a / an / some information about trains to Paris.

6. ‘Did you hear noise / a noise just now?’ ‘No, I didn’t hear anything.’

7. If you want to know the news, you can read paper / a paper.

8. I want to print some documents, but the printer is out of paper / papers.

9. I thought there was somebody in the house because there was light / a light on inside.

10. Light / A light comes from the sun.

11. I was in a hurry this morning. I didn’t have time / a time for breakfast.

12. ‘Did you enjoy your holiday?’ ‘Yes, we had wonderful time / a wonderful time.’

13. This is nice room / a nice room. Did you decorate it yourself?

Emily Chan DSE English

Lecture 20

© 2012-2013 College.ee™學府. All rights reserved. 香港科學園科技大道西 5號企業廣場 3樓 313室

14. Sue was very helpful. She gave us some very useful advice / advices.

15. Did you have nice weather / a nice weather when you were away?

16. We were very unfortunate. We had bad luck / a bad luck.

17. Is it difficult to find a work / job at the moment?

18. When the fire alarm rang, there was total chaos / a total chaos.

19. I had to buy a / some bread because I wanted to make some sandwiches.

20. Bad news don’t / doesn’t make people happy.

21. Your hair is / You hairs are too long. You should have it / them cut.

22. I have called the police and they’re / it’s on their / its way.

23. There was / were money all over the floor.

Emily Chan DSE English

Lecture 20

© 2012-2013 College.ee™學府. All rights reserved. 香港科學園科技大道西 5號企業廣場 3樓 313室

Answers

A.

1. He hasn’t got a car.

2. –

3. We went to a very nice restaurant last weekend.

4. –

5. I use a toothbrush to clean my teeth.

6. Can you tell me if there’s a bank near here?

7. My brother works for an insurance company in London.

8. –

9. When we were in Rome, we stayed in a big hotel.

10. I hope we come to a petrol station soon.

11. I have a problem.

12. It’s a very interesting idea.

13. It’s a good game.

14. –

15. Jane was wearing a beautiful necklace.

B.

1. Was

2. Some

3. How many

4. An

5. Some

6. A noise

7. A paper

8. Paper

9. A light

10. Light

11. Time

12. A wonderful time

13. A nice room

14. Advice

15. Nice weather

Emily Chan DSE English

Lecture 20

© 2012-2013 College.ee™學府. All rights reserved. 香港科學園科技大道西 5號企業廣場 3樓 313室

16. Bad luck

17. A job

18. Total chaos

19. Some

20. Doesn’t

21. Your hair is / it

22. They’re / their

23. Was