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Countable and Uncountable

Countable and uncountable nouns in English

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31 views

Countable and Uncountable

Countable and uncountable nouns in English

Uploaded by

yoscarlyvargas19
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Countable and uncountable

Countable and uncountable nouns


Do you know how to use a, some, any, much and many? Test what you know with interactive
exercises and read the explanation to help you.

Look at these examples to see how to use countable and uncountable nouns in a sentence.
I'm making a cup of tea. How many eggs do we need?

There's some coffee on the table. How much milk have we got?

Have we got any bread?


Grammar explanation

Nouns can be countable or uncountable. Countable nouns can be counted, e.g. an apple, two apples, three
apples, etc. Uncountable nouns cannot be counted, e.g. air, rice, water, etc. When you learn a new noun, you
should check if it is countable or uncountable and note how it is used in a sentence.
Countable nouns

For positive sentences we can use a/an for singular nouns or some for plurals.

There's a man at the door.


I have some friends in New York.

For negatives we can use a/an for singular nouns or any for plurals.

I don't have a dog.


There aren't any seats.
Uncountable nouns
Here are some examples of uncountable nouns:

bread coffee information rice

money advice luggage furniture

We use some with uncountable nouns in positive sentences and any with negatives.

There's some milk in the fridge.


There isn't any coffee.
Questions

In questions we use a/an, any or how many with countable nouns.


Is there an email address to write to?
Are there any chairs?
How many chairs are there?
And we use any or how much with uncountable nouns.
Is there any sugar?
How much orange juice is there?
But when we are offering something or asking for something, we normally use some.
Do you want some chocolate?
Can we have some more chairs, please?
We also use some in a question when we think the answer will be 'yes'.
Have you got some new glasses?
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/a1-a2-grammar/nouns-countable-u
ncountable

https://wordwall.net/es/resource/17780514/countable-or-uncountable
Nouns That Are Both Countable and Uncountable

Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable such as "fish" because it can mean the
meat of the fish or an individual fish. This is true with words like "chicken" and "turkey" as
well.
I bought some fish for dinner the other day. (meat of the fish, uncountable)

My brother caught two fish last week at the lake. (individual fish, countable)
Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable, depending on the context of the sentence.
Examples of these versatile nouns include light, hair, room, gear, art, and science. See the examples
below:

Did you have a good time at the party? (Here, time is countable (a time)).

I don’t think I have time to do my hair before I leave. (In this sentence, time is uncountable.)

There is some juice on the table.

There are some juices on the table.

In the first sentence, juice refers to the liquid beverage; thus, it is uncountable. In the second sentence,
juice refers to the different varieties of juice (e.g., apple, grape, pineapple, etc.), and therefore, is
considered a countable noun.

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