Countable and uncountable

Nouns

ENGLISH GRAMMAR WITH DIANA

 01
Countable nouns
A noun can be countable:

● I eat a banana every day.

● I like bananas.

Banana is a countable noun.

A countable noun can be singular (banana)
or plural (bananas).
We can use numbers with countable
nouns. So we can say one banana, two
bananas etc.
• song • view • job
• beach • tomato • idea
• note • child • man
• accident • fish • bottle
• cup • person • desert

These nouns are usually

countable.
Countable nouns
You can use a/an with singular countable You can use some and any with plural
nouns: countable nouns:
a beach a student an
umbrella • We sang some songs.

You cannot use singular countable nouns We use many and few with plural countable
alone (without a/the/my etc.): nouns:

• Do you want a banana? (not want • We didn’t take many pictures. I have a
banana) few things to do.

You can use plural countable nouns alone:

• I like bananas. (= bananas in general)

 Uncountable
02 nouns
A noun can be uncountable:

• I eat rice every day.

• I like rice.

Rice is an uncountable noun.

An uncountable noun has only one
form (rice).
There is no plural. We cannot use
numbers with uncountable nouns.
We cannot say ‘one rice’, ‘two
rices’etc.
• accommodation
• advice • baggage
• behaviour • bread • chaos
• damage • furniture • information
• luck • luggage • news
• permission • progress • scenery
• traffic • weather • work

These nouns are usually

uncountable.
Uncountable nouns

We do not use a/an with uncountable You can use some and any with
nouns. uncountable
We do not say ‘a sand’, ‘a music’, ‘a nouns:
rice’.
But you can often use a ... of. • We listened to some music.

For example: We use much and little with uncountable

a bowl / a packet / a grain of rice nouns:

You can use uncountable nouns alone • We didn’t do much shopping.

(without the/my/some etc.):

• I eat rice every day.

• There’s blood on your shirt.
Countable & uncountable
03
nouns
Many nouns are sometimes countable, and sometimes uncountable. Usually
there is a difference in meaning.

Countable
• Did you hear a noise just now? (= a
specific noise)
• I bought a paper to read. (= a
newspaper)
• There’s a hair in my soup! (= one
single hair)
• This is a nice room.(= a room in a
house)
• I had some interesting experiences
while I was travelling. (= things that
happened to me)
Uncountable
• I can’t work here. There’s too much
noise. (= noise in general)
• I need some paper to write on. (= material
for writing on)
• You’ve got very long hair. (not hairs)(=
all the hair on your head)
• You can’t sit here. There isn’t room. (=
space)
• I was offered the job because I had a lot of
experience. (not experiences)(=
experience of that type of job)
Exercises 04
Complete the sentences using a/an where necessary.

1. That’s __ good advice. 5. What __ beautiful view!

2. That’s __ good suggestion. 6. What __ beautiful scenery!
3. I’m looking for __ job. 7. It’s __ nice day today.
4. I’m looking for __ work. 8. It’s __ nice weather today.
Put the noun in the right column.
Child Behaviour Scenery Idea

News Accident Advice Job

Song Person Work Bread

Countable Uncountable
Which is correct?

1) I don't understand what makes such loud noise / a loud noise.

2) There is too much noise / noises from these children.

3) The guest is very unhappy because he found hair / a hair in his food.

4) She had such long hair / a long hair that it reached down to her waist

5) We only bought this house six months ago, but we've already redecorated all rooms /
the rooms.
6) We have a big house. There is room / a room in it for all our relatives.