Count and
Non-count nouns
also known as
Countable nouns and Uncountable
nouns
You can count how many you have.
You can't count how much you have.
| chairs |
hair |
| boys |
water |
| computers |
coffee |
| cars |
sand |
| pictures |
milk |
| houses |
transportation |
| pencils |
communication |
| radios |
news |
| newspapers |
information |
| bottles |
wine |
Some nouns are countable. You can add an s to plural countable
nouns: cars, pencils, boys.
You can add a or an to a singular countable noun: a
car, an egg, a boy. You can use the word many with countable
nouns: many cars.
Some nouns are uncountable (noncount). Uncountable nouns don't
have plurals. You can't add an s to uncountable nouns: information,
transportation, milk. You can't add a or an to uncountable nouns.
You can use much, a lot of, a little with uncountable
nouns: much traffic, a lot of information, a little milk.
With count nouns, you can use certain determiners such as a few
or several. You can also use some. You can also use some
with uncountable nouns, but you cannot use a few or several
with uncountable nouns.
Yes: There were several new chairs in the room.
Yes: There were a few new chairs in the room.
Yes: There were some new chairs in the room.
Yes: There was some new information in the report.
No: There were some new information in the report.
No: There were several new information in the report
No: There was some new informations in the report.
(c) David Tillyer
Practice #1
Practice #2
Practice #3
Noncount Nouns List
