Scribd
Upload
18 views

Countable and Non - Countable

Countable nouns refer to objects that can be counted, like cars, houses, and books. They have both singular and plural forms. Countable nouns require a determiner like "a" or "the" when used in a sentence. Uncountable nouns refer to mass or abstract concepts that cannot be counted, like money, milk, and rain. They only have a singular form and cannot take determiners like "a" or "an". Some nouns can be either countable or uncountable depending on whether they refer to individual units or a mass/material.

Uploaded by

Itzel López Eugenio
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
18 views

Countable and Non - Countable

Countable nouns refer to objects that can be counted, like cars, houses, and books. They have both singular and plural forms. Countable nouns require a determiner like "a" or "the" when used in a sentence. Uncountable nouns refer to mass or abstract concepts that cannot be counted, like money, milk, and rain. They only have a singular form and cannot take determiners like "a" or "an". Some nouns can be either countable or uncountable depending on whether they refer to individual units or a mass/material.

Uploaded by

Itzel López Eugenio
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Countable nouns

 
Countable nouns are nouns that we can count: car, house, book, etc. We can say one car, two cars, three cars, etc.
 
Singular and plural
Countable nouns have singular and plural forms: a car/cars, a house/houses, a book/books, etc.
 
a/an + singular countable noun
 
We CANNOT use a singular countable noun without a determiner like a/an or the.
I have a car. (NOT I have car.)
When I was a child. (NOT When I was child.)
 
Uncountable nouns
Uncountable nouns are nouns that we cannot count: money, milk, rain, etc. We cannot say one money, two moneys,
etc.
 
Only singular
 
Uncountable nouns do not have a plural form, they only have a singular form: money/moneys, milk/milks, rain/rains,
etc.
 
Not a/an
 
We cannot use a/an + uncountable noun. A/an means ‘one’, and we cannot count uncountable nouns.
• I need money. (NOT a money.)
• We need to buy sugar. (NOT a sugar.)
 
• Some nouns are uncountable in English, but they are
countable in other languages. Some of them are: advice,
news (it ends in -s, but it’s a singular word), furniture,
luggage, baggage, bread, cheese, toast, etc.
 
Countable and uncountable
 
Some nouns can be countable and uncountable because
they can refer to a unit or to ‘mass’ or ‘material’. Compare:
• Yesterday I had two coffees. (= two cups of coffee)
• I love coffee. (= the liquid that we drink)
• I found one hair in my soup. (one single hair)
• She has beautiful hair. (= the mass of hair on her head)
a/an, some, any

We use a/an + singular countable noun.


•I have a new car. 
•She has a brother and a sister.
We cannot use a/an before a plural noun or an uncountable noun.
•I need to buy sugar. (NOT a sugar.)
•We saw very beautiful places. (NOT a very beautiful places.)
 
some/any
 
We use some and any before countable plural nouns or singular uncountable nouns.
• He gave me some coins. 
• He didn’t give me any coins.
• He gave me some money.

some
• We use some in positive sentences.
• We cooked some cookies. 

any
• We use any in negative sentences and questions.
• She didn’t send me any messages.
• Have you got any brothers or sisters?
• But we use some in questions when we are asking for something or we are offering something.
• Can I have some tea? (=I’m asking for some tea.)
• Would you like some tea? (=I’m offering you some tea.)
 

You might also like