Uncountable nouns are nouns which can’t be counted. For example, information.

It is not possible to
say one information/ two informations. The word “information” can’t be counted using numbers. It can
never have a plural “s”. It can never have an article “a” or “an”. And it can never be quantified with any
number.

Most uncountable nouns relate to:

 liquids (milk, water)

 abstract ideas (advice, chaos, motivation)

 powder and grain (rice, wheat, sand)

 mass nouns (furniture, hair, transportation)

 natural phenomena (sunshine, snow, rain, weather)

 states of being (sleep, stress, childhood)

 feelings (anger, happiness, enthusiasm, courage)

 gas (oxygen, air)

Uncountable Nouns & Grammar

 How much …? = uncountable nouns / How many …? = countable nouns /

 These = countable / This = uncountable

 many = countable / a lot of = uncountable (and countable)

 not many = countable / not much uncountable (we use “much” with negative uncountable
nouns)

To express an amount of an uncountable noun, you must use other words.

 some information = a piece of information

 some clothing = one item of clothing / two items of clothing

 some equipment = a piece of equipment / two pieces of equipment

 some water = a cup of water / two glasses of water

 A-F G -M
 accommodation  genetics
 advertising  gold
 air  grammar
 aid  guilt
 advice  hair
 anger  happiness
 art  harm
 assistance  health
 bread  heat
 business  help
 butter  homework
 calm  honesty
 cash  hospitality
 chaos  housework
 cheese (both)  humour
 childhood (both)  imagination (both)
 clothing  importance
 coffee (both)  information
 content  innocence
 corruption  intelligence
 courage  jealousy
 currency (both)  juice
 damage  justice
 danger (both)  kindness
 darkness  knowledge
 data  labour
 determination  lack (both)
 economics  laughter
 education (both)  leisure
 electricity  literature
 employment  litter
 energy  logic
 entertainment (both)  love (both)
 enthusiasm  luck
 equipment  magic
 evidence  management
 failure (both)  metal (both)
 fame  milk
 fire  money
 flour  motherhood
 food (both)  motivation
 freedom  music
 friendship (both)
 fuel
 furniture
 fun
 N-S T–Z

 nature  tea (both)

 news  tennis
 nutrition  time (both)
 obesity  tolerance (both)
 oil  trade (both)
 old age  traffic
 oxygen  transportation
 paper (both)  travel
 patience  trust
 permission  understanding (both)
 pollution  unemployment
 poverty  usage
 power (both)  violence
 pride  vision (both)
 production (both)  warmth
 progress  water
 pronunciation  wealth
 publicity  weather
 punctuation  weight (both)
 quality (both)  welfare
 quantity (both)  wheat
 racism  width
 rain  wildlife
 relaxation (both)  wisdom
 research  wood (both)
 respect  work
 rice  yoga
 room (space)  youth (both)
 rubbish
 safety
 salt
 sand
 seafood
 shopping
 silence (both)
 smoke
 snow
 software
 soup (both)
 speed
 spelling
 stress
 sugar
 sunshine
Irregular Uncountable Nouns

Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable.

Room = has two meanings. One is countable and one is uncountable.

 If this is about a room in a house, it is countable.

 If this is relating to space “there isn’t much room in this place”, it is uncountable.

Hair = this can be countable and uncountable depending on how you use it.

 “There is a hair in my soup”. This refers to only one strand of hair and is countable.

 “He has a lot of hair”. This refers to the mass of hair and is considered uncountable.

Business = this can be countable and uncountable.

 “He is going to Paris on business”. This is uncountable.

 “I will take my business elsewhere”. This is uncountable and means I will take my custom to
another shop.

 “He studies business at school”. This is uncountable.

 “I am planning to start a new business”. Countable.

This is a difficult one with a lot of exceptions. Here’s a link with a list of rules for the word business /
countable and uncountable.

Other Irregular Uncountable Nouns

light / paper / time / work

Practice with Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Ex1: Fill in the gaps using one of the following: many / much / a lot of.

1. …………. wildlife is losing habitation due to deforestation.

2. I haven’t heard ………. news about the recent events in Europe.

3. There aren’t ………. sports lessons offered in the school curriculum.

4. I can’t go out to tonight because I’ve got ………… work.

5. It is often thought that people who have only traveled in their own country don’t have …………….
tolerance for others compared to people who have been abroad.

6. ………… literature that students read at school is classical.

7. ……….. education policies are designed to protect students but ensure a high level of learning.

Ex2: Fill in the gaps with on of the following: is / are.

1. Silence ……… essential in libraries to ensure that people can concentrate on what they are
reading.

2. There ……. a lot of company advertising during major sports events.

3. Shopping …….. one of the most popular leisure activities for women.

4. There …….. a lot of information available online about IELTS.

5. There ………. a lot of traffic in city centers during rush hour.

6. There ……….. not enough money spent on research for cancer.

7. Water …….. essential for plants to thrive.

8. I think that childhood …….. one of the best times of a person’s life.

9. The management procedures ……… difficult to understand.

10. Not enough aid …. given to third world countries.

Ex3:

In which sentence is the word "bread" countable?

a. I like many Indian breads, especially "chapatis" and "parathas".

b. Bread has been baked in India for thousands of years.

In which sentence is the word "coffee" countable?

a. Would you like a cup of coffee? b. Would you like another coffee?

In which sentence is the word "food" countable?

a. If you want to be healthy, try to eat food that hasn't been made in a factory.

b. Most processed foods contain artificial flavourings and colourings.

In which sentence is the word "fruit" countable?

a. Fruit is becoming really expensive these days. b. Some of the stone fruits are as expensive as meat.

In which sentence is the word "ice cream" uncountable?

a. Does everybody want to have an ice cream? b. Does anybody want to have some ice cream?

In which sentence is the word "meat" countable?

a. Our butcher sells a wide range of top-quality meats. b. All the meat our butcher sells is of the highest
quality.

In which sentence is the word "salad" uncountable?

a. Would you like a salad for your lunch? b. Would you like some salad with your lunch?

In which sentence is the word "sugar" countable?

a. How many sugars does Lee have in her tea? b. How much sugar does Kim have in his coffee?
In which sentence is the word "tea" uncountable?

a. Did anybody at this table order a tea? b. We ordered two cups of tea and a coffee.

In which sentence is the word "toast" countable?

a. We drank a toast to Gerald's future success. b. Gerald drank some coffee and had some toast.

In which sentence is the word "blood" uncountable?

a. Sherlock Holmes was like any young blood when he was a student.

b. Sherlock Holmes found a drop of blood on the young man's shoe.

In which sentence is the word "fuel" uncountable?

a. Mario says food is just fuel for the body. b. Most of the fuels we use now are unrenewable.

In which sentence is the word "gas" countable?

a. How many different gases are in the atmosphere?

b. How much gas does a sheep emit when it burps?

In which sentence is the word "glass" countable?

a. The glass they poured my beer into was cracked, so I didn't drink it.

b. The glass in this window is cracked, so we should replace it.

In which sentence is the word "juice" uncountable?

a. Do you drink any fruit juice in the morning?

b. No, but I have a juice or a smoothie with my lunch.

In which sentence is the word "oil" uncountable?

a. How many vegetable oils did they sell at the supermarket?

b. How much vegetable oil did you buy at the supermarket?

In which sentence is the word "smoke" uncountable?

a. We went onto the balcony to see the smoke.

b. We went onto the balcony to have a smoke.

ANSWERS

Ex1

1. A lot of
2. much
3. many (“lessons” = countable)
4. a lot of
5. much
6. A lot of
7. Many (“policies” = countable)

Ex2

1. is
2. is
3. is
4. is
5. is
6. is
7. is
8. is
9. are
10. is