assignment count or uncountable

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Definition of assignment noun from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

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Grammar: Count and Noncount Nouns

Introduction to count and noncount nouns.

Count and noncount nouns vary from language to language. In some languages, there are no count nouns (e.g., Japanese). In addition, some nouns that are noncount in English may be countable in other languages (e.g., hair or information).

Errors with count and noncount nouns can result in errors with article usage and with subject verb agreement .

Count Nouns

What is a count noun.

Count nouns can be separated into individual units and counted. They usually have both a singular and a plural form. Most English nouns are count nouns.

• one phone, two phones
• one dog, two dogs
• one shirt, two shirts

However, a few countable nouns only have a plural form in English. Here are a few examples:

These are often used with some sort of quantifier, or quantity word , to show how they are counted (e.g., "a pair of" pants, "two pairs of" pants, "some " pants).

How are count nouns made plural?

Count nouns are usually made plural by adding an "-s" or an "-es."

• one boy, two boy s
• one folder, two folder s
• one box, two box es
• one church, two church es

If the noun ends in "-y," change the "-y" to "-ies" to make it plural.

• one family, two famil ies
• one party, two part ies

However, if a vowel precedes the "-y," add just an "-s" to make it plural.

• one toy, two toy s
• one donkey, two donkey s

If the noun ends in "-o," add "-es" to make it plural.

• one potato, two potato es
• one tomato, two tomato es

If the noun ends in "-f" or "-fe," change the "-f" to a "-v" and add "-es."

• one thief, two thiev es
• one hoof, two hoov es

Some count nouns have irregular plural forms. Many of these forms come from earlier forms of English.

• one foot, two feet
• one person, two people
• one tooth, two teeth
• one criterion, two criteria

When unsure of the plural form, please consult the dictionary. An English learner’s dictionary (such as Merriam-Webster, Cambridge, Oxford, or Longman) may be the most useful.

Important: Singular count nouns must have a word in the determiner slot. This could be an article, a pronoun, or a possessive noun (i.e., "a," "an," "the," "this," or a possessive noun). Please see our page on article usage for more information.

Noncount Nouns

What is a noncount noun.

Noncount (or uncountable) nouns exist as masses or abstract quantities that cannot be counted. They have no plural form. Although most English nouns are count nouns, noncount nouns frequently occur in academic writing.

Here are some common categories of noncount nouns. Like all things in English (and language in general), there may be exceptions.

A mass: work, equipment, homework, money, transportation, clothing, luggage, jewelry, traffic

A natural substance: air, ice, water, fire, wood, blood, hair, gold, silver

Food: milk, rice, coffee, bread, sugar, meat, water

An abstract concept: advice, happiness, health, education, research, knowledge, information, time

A game: soccer, tennis, basketball, hockey, football, chess, checkers

A disease: diabetes, measles, polio, influenza, malaria, hypothyroidism, arthritis

A subject of study: economics, physics, astronomy, biology, history, statistics

A language : Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, English

An activity (in the "-ing" form): swimming, dancing, reading, smoking, drinking, studying

Important: Noncount nouns do not use the indefinite articles "a" or "an." They can, however, use the definite article "the" if what is being referred to is specific. They can also use no article if what is being referred to is general (generic) or nonspecific. Please see our page on article usage for more information.

Double Nouns

Some nouns can be both count and noncount. When they change from a count to a noncount noun, the meaning changes slightly. In the noncount form, the noun refers to the whole idea or quantity. In the count form, the noun refers to a specific example or type. When the noun is countable, it can be used with the indefinite article "a" or "an" or it can be made plural.

Check the published literature in your field of study to determine whether specific nouns are used in a countable or an uncountable way. Sometimes, a noun that is generally countable becomes uncountable when used in a technical way.

Here are a few examples:

• Life is a gift. (noncount)
• She leads a very fulfilling life . (count = This specifies the type of life. It could be a boring life, a dangerous life, and so on.)
• I like cheese . (noncount)
• The cheeses of France are my favorite. (count = This specifies the type of cheese.)
• The study of language is called linguistics. (noncount)
• English is often considered an international language . (count)

Quantity Words

Quantity words are used to add information about the number or amount of the noun. Some quantity words can only be used with countable singular nouns (e.g., computer, pen, and crayon), some can only be used with countable plural nouns (e.g., printers, flashdrives, and keyboards), some can only be used with uncountable nouns (i.e., paper, ink), and some can be used with both plural countable nouns and with uncountable nouns.

With countable singular nouns (e.g., computer, pen, crayon):

• each computer
• every computer
• another computer

With countable plural nouns (e.g., printers, flashdrives, and keyboards):

• several printers
• a large number of printers
• a small number of printers
• not many printers
• too many printers
• many printers
• a few printers
• very few printers
• few printers
• fewer printers

With uncountable nouns (e.g., paper or ink):

• a great deal of paper
• a large amount of paper
• a small amount of paper
• not much paper
• too much paper
• a little paper
• very little paper
• little paper

With countable plural nouns and with uncountable nouns (e.g., printers, flashdrives, keyboards; paper, or ink):

• some printers
• any printers
• a lot of printers
• a lot of ink
• hardly any printers
• hardly any ink
• (almost) all printers
• (almost) all ink
• no printers
• none of the printers
• none of the ink
• not any printers
• not any ink
• other printers

Note the difference between "few/little" (almost none) and "a few/a little " (some, but not many/much). "Few/little" tend to have a negative connotation. "A few/a little" tend to be more positive.

• There are few solutions. (There are not many solutions.)
• There are a few solutions. (There are some solutions.)  
• He received little education. (He did not receive much education.)
• He received a little education. (He received some education.)

Nouns Video Playlist

Note that these videos were created while APA 6 was the style guide edition in use. There may be some examples of writing that have not been updated to APA 7 guidelines.

Writing Tools: Using a Dictionary for Grammatical Accuracy Video

Note that this video was created while APA 6 was the style guide edition in use. There may be some examples of writing that have not been updated to APA 7 guidelines.

• Writing Tools: Using a Dictionary for Grammatical Accuracy (video transcript)

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Knowledge Check: Count and Noncount Nouns

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Nouns: countable and uncountable

Countable nouns.

Some nouns refer to things which, in English, are treated as separate items which can be counted. These are called countable nouns. Here are some examples:

a car , three cars

my cousin , my two cousins

a book , a box full of books

a city , several big cities

Singular and plural

Countable nouns can be singular or plural. They can be used with a/an and with numbers and many other determiners (e.g. these, a few ):

She’s got two sisters and a younger brother .

Most people buy things like cameras and MP3-players online these days .

These shoes look old now.

I’ll take a few magazines with me for the flight .

Determiners ( the, my , some , this )

Singular and plural nouns

Uncountable nouns

In English grammar, some things are seen as a whole or mass. These are called uncountable nouns, because they cannot be separated or counted.

Some examples of uncountable nouns are:

Ideas and experiences: advice, information, progress, news, luck, fun, work

Materials and substances: water, rice, cement, gold, milk

Weather words: weather, thunder, lightning, rain, snow

Names for groups or collections of things: furniture, equipment, rubbish, luggage

Other common uncountable nouns include: accommodation, baggage, homework, knowledge, money, permission, research, traffic, travel .

These nouns are not used with a/an or numbers and are not used in the plural.

We’re going to get new furniture for the living room.

Not: We’re going to get a new furniture for the living room . or We’re going to get new furnitures for the living room .

We had terrible weather last week.

Not: We had a terrible weather last week .

We need rice next time we go shopping.

Some nouns always have plural form but they are uncountable because we cannot use numbers with them.

I bought two pairs of trousers .

Not: I bought two trousers .

Other nouns of this type are: shorts, pants, pyjamas, glasses (for the eyes), binoculars, scissors .

Some nouns which are uncountable in English are countable in other languages (e.g. accommodation, advice, furniture, information ):

They can give you some information about accommodation at the tourist office.

Not: They can give you some informations about accommodations at the tourist office .

Can you give me some advice about buying a second-hand car?

Not: Can you give me some advices about buying a second-hand car?

A good learner’s dictionary will tell you whether a noun is countable or uncountable.

Quantity expressions ( a bit/piece )

To refer to one or more quantities of an uncountable noun , expressions such as a bit of, a piece of , an item of or words for containers and measures must be used:

He bought a very expensive piece of furniture for his new apartment.

Maggie always has some exciting bits of news when she comes to see us.

I think we’ll need five bags of cement for the patio.

There’s a litre of milk in the fridge for you. And I bought you a bar of chocolate .

Determiners ( my, some, the )

Uncountable nouns can be used with certain determiners (e.g. my, her , some, any , no , the, this, that ) and expressions of quantity (e.g. a lot of, (a) little ):

They gave me some information about courses and scholarships and things.

Have you heard the news ? Fran’s getting engaged.

She’s been studying hard and has made a lot of progress .

There’s no work to do here, so you can go home if you like.

This milk ’s a bit old, I’m afraid.

Countable phrases for uncountable nouns

We can sometimes use countable noun phrases to talk about an individual example of the thing an uncountable noun refers to.

Finding a place to live is difficult if you’re a student and you’ve got no money. (or Finding accommodation … )

Not: Finding an accommodation …

She brought two big suitcases and a rucksack with her.

Not: She brought two big luggages …

I read a poem once about someone riding a horse at night.

Not: I read a poetry …

We went on a trip to the Amazon when we were in Brazil.

Not: We went on a travel …

Countable and uncountable nouns with different meanings

Some nouns can be used either countably or uncountably, but with different meanings.

Uncountable nouns used countably

Measures and examples.

Sometimes uncountable nouns are used countably, to mean ‘a measure of something’ or ‘a type or example of something’:

Can I have two teas and one coffee , please? (two cups of tea and one cup of coffee …?)

A: How many sugars do you want in your tea? (How many spoonfuls/lumps of sugar?) B: Just one, please .

To some degree we tend to eat the foods that we ate as children. (i.e. types of food)

Abstract nouns

Some abstract nouns can be used uncountably or countably. The uncountable use has a more general meaning. The countable use has a more particular meaning.

Nouns of this type include: education, experience, hatred, help, knowledge, life, love, sleep, time, understanding .

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Count and Noncount Nouns (with Articles and Adjectives)

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Countable Nouns

Countable nouns refer to things that we can count. Such nouns can take either singular or plural form.

Concrete nouns may be countable.

There are a dozen flowers in the vase. He ate an apple for a snack.

Collective nouns are countable.

She attended three classes today. London is home to several orchestras .

Some proper nouns are countable.

There are many Greeks living in New York. The Vanderbilts would throw lavish parties at their Newport summer mansion.

Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable nouns refer to things that we cannot count. Such nouns take only singular form.

Abstract nouns are uncountable.

The price of freedom is constant vigilance. Her writing shows maturity and intelligence .

Some concrete nouns are uncountable (when understood in their undivided sense).

The price of oil has stabilized recently. May I borrow some rice ?

While uncountable nouns do not generally take a plural form, sometimes they may be pluralized when used in a countable sense. The difference between the uncountable and countable meanings of nouns that are used in either sense can be seen in the following chart:

Using Articles with Countable and Uncountable Nouns

A countable noun always takes either the indefinite (a, an) or definite (the) article when it is singular. When plural, it takes the definite article if it refers to a definite, specific group and no article if it is used in a general sense.

The guest of honor arrived late. You are welcome as a guest in our home. The guests at your party yesterday made a lot of noise. Guests are welcome here anytime.

Uncountable nouns never take the indefinite article (a or an), but they do take singular verbs. The is sometimes used with uncountable nouns in the same way it is used with plural countable nouns, that is, to refer to a specific object, group, or idea.

Information is a precious commodity in our computerized world. The information in your files is correct. Sugar has become more expensive recently. Please pass me the sugar .

Categories of Uncountable Nouns

Quantity adjectives with countable and uncountable nouns.

Both words modify either countable or uncountable nouns.

There are some cookies in the jar. (countable) There is some water on the floor. (uncountable) Did you eat any food ? (uncountable) Do you serve any vegetarian dishes? (countable)

Much modifies only uncountable nouns.

How much money will we need? They ate so much cake that they started to feel sick. Much effort will be required to solve this problem.

Many modifies only countable nouns.

How many children do you have? They had so many books that they had to stack them in the hall. Many Americans travel to Europe each year.

A lot of, Lots of

These words are informal substitutes for much and many .

Lots of effort will be required to solve this problem. (uncountable) A lot of Americans travel to Europe each year. (countable)

Little, Quite a little, Few, Quite a few

Little and quite a little modify only uncountable nouns.

We had a little ice cream after dinner. They offered little help for my problem. (meaning "only a small amount") They offered quite a little help for my problem. (meaning "a large amount") (See quite a bit of, below.)

Few and quite a few modify only countable nouns.

A few doctors from the hospital play on the softball team. Few restaurants in this town offer vegetarian dishes. (meaning "only a small number") Quite a few restaurants in this town offer vegetarian dishes. (meaning "a large number")

A little bit of, Quite a bit of

These informal phrases usually precede uncountable nouns. Quite a bit of has the same meaning as quite a little and is used more commonly.

There's a little bit of pepper in the soup. (meaning "a small amount") There's quite a bit of pepper in the soup. (meaning "a large amount")

This word modifies both countable and uncountable nouns.

I don't have enough potatoes to make the soup. We have enough money to buy a car.

This term modifies both countable and uncountable nouns.

There are plenty of mountains in Switzerland. She has plenty of money in the bank.

There were no squirrels in the park today. We have no time left to finish the project.

All you need to know about countable and uncountable nouns

What’s the difference between countable and uncountable nouns , and what grammar rules do you need to know to use them correctly?

Also known as  count and noncount nouns , this vocabulary point can trip you up when you’re learning English as a second language. It’s especially tricky because:

• There are no concrete rules for classifying nouns as countable or uncountable (although there are some general guidelines that we will explain later).
• Certain nouns that are countable in other languages may be uncountable in English, so you’ll have to un-learn what you know from your native language and learn a different set of rules for English words.

So, let’s take a detailed look at countable vs uncountable nouns, with plenty of examples showing how to use them with the correct articles, quantifiers, and other determiners.

The basics of countable and uncountable nouns

What is a countable noun.

A  countable noun (also called a count noun) is a noun naming something that can be counted using standard numbers. Countable nouns usually have singular and plural forms. 

Examples of countable nouns include chair, table, rabbit, page, part, and lemon .

So, we can have one chair, five tables, ten rabbits, twenty-three lemons, and three hundred pages .

You are probably already familiar with this pattern of counting things in English.

What is an uncountable noun?

An uncountable noun (also called a mass noun or a non-count noun) is a noun naming something that cannot be counted in English using standard numbers. These nouns cannot be made plural.

Examples of uncountable nouns include rice, money, advice, news, and happiness .

We cannot have one rice, five monies, two advices, or a happiness .

Instead, we must use different determiners to quantify these particular things: a cup of rice , a bag of money , and a piece of advice .

Now you know these basics, it’s time to take a deeper look at what this means in practice. You need to know whether you’re dealing with a countable or uncountable noun so you can select the correct determiners and plural forms in your writing and speech.

Rules for using countable nouns

We’ll begin by going over the rules for using countable nouns, since these are most straightforward.

Countable nouns:

• Can be separated into whole, individual, countable units
• Broadly refer to people, places, and things
• Have a singular and a plural form (with a few exceptions like sheep, deer, fish) – see this site for more about how to form plurals
• May take indefinite articles (a/an) as well as the definite article (the)
• May take other determiners such as this/that/these/those, some/any/few/many/several, my/your/his/her/our/their
• To form a question about a countable noun, we say ‘How many…’

Countable noun example sentences

Most of the nouns we use in English are countable. Here are some example sentences showing correct usage:

• I have two cats as pets .
• She bought a few books from the store .
• We went to the zoo and saw several giraffes .
• The school has six classrooms for different subjects .
• He has a collection of ten stamps .
• My father owns a few bikes .
• The store has a variety of balloons in different colors.
• He has five siblings : three brothers  and two sisters .
• There are many oranges in the fruit basket .
• The bakery doesn’t have any bread left.
• I would like to buy that handbag .
• How many meals should I order at  the restaurant ?

Read about the difference between few vs a few here.

Rules for using uncountable nouns

Uncountable nouns are used less often in English, and they:

• Are abstract ideas, qualities, or masses that can’t be separated and counted individually
• Do not have a plural form and are treated as singular nouns (and therefore take the singular form of the verb)
• May take the definite article (the) but do not take the indefinite articles (a/an)
• May take other determiners such as much/little/less/any/some and my/your/his/her/our/their
• Can be quantified with phrases that contain countable nouns (e.g. a bag of rice)
• To form a question about an uncountable noun, we say ‘How much…’

See also: What’s the difference between less and fewer?

Uncountable noun examples

We can group uncountable nouns into some broad categories. Although we cannot list them all here, the following groups are a general guide that may make it easier for you to identify others in the future:

This may seem like a long list of uncountable nouns; however, there are hundreds more. 

Quantifying an uncountable noun

Although we can’t quantify uncountable nouns using numbers, we can add a countable unit of measurement to refer to one or more quantities of these things. Below are some of the most common quantifiers we can use to refer to things that are uncountable.

• A piece of… advice, art, cheese, equipment, evidence, furniture, homework, information, luck, luggage, music, news, paper, poetry, publicity, rubbish, software
• A bottle of… beer, water, wine, sauce, salad dressing
• A carton of… juice, milk, cream
• A packet of… ketchup, rice, gum
• A plate/bowl of… cereal, pasta, rice
• A drop of… blood, oil, rain, water
• A game of… badminton, chess, football, soccer, tennis
• A ray of… hope, light, sun
• A grain of… sand, rice, sugar, dignity
• A cube of… ice, sugar
• A blob of… toothpaste, mayonnaise, glue
• A pane of glass
• A round of applause
• A bar of soap
• A mode of transport
• A bolt of lightning
• A blade of grass
• A rasher of bacon
• A sheet of paper

Determiners for count and noncount nouns

You’ll have seen from the examples above that certain determiners can only be used for one type of noun, whereas others can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns. Here’s a handy reference table for these, although this is not an exhaustive list.

Most other adjectives can modify both countable and uncountable nouns.

See also:  What’s the difference between advice vs advise?

Some nouns can be countable and uncountable

You might often hear people say something like “I take two sugars in my tea”. What they really mean is “two teaspoons of sugar”, but the noun “sugar” has taken on that meaning and become countable.

In this way, uncountable nouns can sometimes be used as countable when referring to a complete unit or measurement of something, normally in relation to food and beverages. Here are some more examples:

• I’ll have three coffees , please. (three cups of coffee)
• I’ve had too many beers tonight! (glasses/cans/bottles of beer)
• Could I get two more ketchups ? (two sachets of ketchup)

Uncountable nouns may also be used as countable when they refer to a specific type, example, or category of something . For example:

• You should have at least five different cheeses on your cheese board.
• The best wines in the world are produced in France.
• We used three woods to make this beautiful box.
• They encountered a lot of difficulties while completing the project.
• These juices are all freshly squeezed.

These plural countable nouns are exceptions to the rule given earlier.

Nouns with different countable and uncountable meanings

To make things even more confusing, certain nouns in English have two or more meanings. When a noun refers to different things, one countable and one uncountable, you must remember which is which in order to form a correct sentence. Here are some common examples of words with dual meanings:

As you can see,  English can be hard to learn . Fortunately, you can always check in a dictionary to see whether a noun is countable or uncountable. Some dictionaries, such as  Oxford Dictionaries , specify this in the definition.

We hope this information about countable vs uncountable nouns has been helpful. It can be quite a tricky English grammar topic to get right because, even once you have mastered the rules of count and noncount nouns, there is still no hard-and-fast way to know which words are which, unless you look them up.

Leave a comment below if you have any more questions about this topic or want to check your understanding of a particular point we’ve mentioned.

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• How to Tell If a Noun Is Countable or Uncountable | Examples

How to Tell if a Noun is Countable or Uncountable | Examples

Published on 15 August 2022 by Fiona Middleton . Revised on 18 April 2023.

Uncountable nouns, also known as mass nouns or noncount nouns, refer to a mass of something or an abstract concept that can’t be counted (except with a unit of measurement). In contrast, countable nouns can be counted as individual items.

The main rules to remember for uncountable nouns are that they cannot be pluralised, and that they never take indefinite articles (‘a’ or “an”).

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Table of contents

Countable noun or uncountable noun, are uncountable nouns singular or plural, using articles with uncountable nouns, numbers and amounts, ‘research’ and ‘data’.

Some nouns in English, like those in the table above, are always (or nearly always) uncountable. Many other nouns, however, can be countable or uncountable depending on the context.

To identify whether a noun is countable or uncountable in a particular context, consider whether you are referring to a single tangible item, entity or type of something, or if you are describing a general mass or idea of something.

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Uncountable nouns should be treated as singular, and thus should always be used with singular verbs to ensure correct subject-verb agreement .

• Knowledges are power.
• Knowledge are power.
• Knowledge is power.

Singular countable nouns generally require an article or other determiner (e.g., ‘the interview’, ‘a participant’, ‘my hypothesis’). Uncountable nouns, in contrast, can usually stand alone without an article.

Because uncountable nouns can’t be counted as a single item,  indefinite articles (‘a’ or ‘an’) should never be used with them.

• The admissions office can provide an advice about arranging accommodation.
• The admissions office can provide advice about arranging accommodation.

The definite article ‘the’ can be used when you are referring to a particular instance or specific mass of an uncountable noun.

• All living things require water to survive.
• We wanted to swim but the water was too cold.

Many uncountable nouns are associated with words that break them up into countable units. This is helpful when you want to refer to a single or numbered instance or unit.

• A piece of advice.
• A head of broccoli.
• A bolt of lightning.
• Ten items of feedback.

Finding the correct term to describe amounts can be tricky. Many terms that describe amount (e.g., ‘some’, ‘ a lot of’ and ‘most’) can be used with both uncountable and countable nouns (although note that these terms are often  too vague to use in academic writing).

• Uncountable: Some vegetation has started to grow over the study site.
• Countable: Some chickens have also been spotted in the area.
• Uncountable: After 5 minutes most of the calcium carbonate should be dissolved.
• Countable: Most of the chemicals are not easy to obtain.

However, there are certain terms that can only be used with either uncountable or countable nouns. Make sure to choose correctly between ‘less’/’fewer’, ‘much’/’many’, and ‘amount’/’number’.

In academic writing, ‘research’ and ‘data’ are two uncountable nouns that are notoriously difficult to use correctly.

Never add ‘s’ to pluralise ‘research’ or ‘data’. (Note that the word ‘researches’ is only correct when used as the third-person singular of the verb ‘to research.’)

• We review researches about the financial crisis of 2007.
• We review research about the financial crisis of 2007.
• The experiments produced a large amount of datas .
• The experiments produced a large amount of data .

Always use ‘research’ as a singular noun.

• Research are lacking in this area.
• Research is lacking in this area.

Data, however, can be used as a singular or plural noun .

• Data was collected through semi-structured interviews.
• Data were collected through semi-structured interviews.

Sources for this article

We strongly encourage students to use sources in their work. You can cite our article (APA Style) or take a deep dive into the articles below.

Middleton, F. (2023, April 18). How to Tell if a Noun is Countable or Uncountable | Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 22 April 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/nouns/uncountable-noun/

Aarts, B. (2011).  Oxford modern English grammar . Oxford University Press.

Butterfield, J. (Ed.). (2015).  Fowler’s dictionary of modern English usage  (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Garner, B. A. (2016).  Garner’s modern English usage (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Is this article helpful?

Fiona Middleton

Other students also liked, what is a pronoun | definition, types & examples, comma before or after and | rules & examples, comma splice | definition, examples, & rules.

• A1-A2 grammar

Nouns: countable and uncountable

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. There's some money on the table. Have we got any bread? How many chairs do we need? How much milk have we got?

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

Countable and uncountable nouns 1: Grammar test 1

Read the explanation to learn more.

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:

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.

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?

Other expressions of quantity

A lot of (or lots of ) can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.

There are lots of apples on the trees. There is a lot of snow on the road .

Notice that we don't usually use many or much in positive sentences. We use a lot of instead.

They have a lot of money.

However, in negative sentences we use not many with countable nouns and not much with uncountable nouns.

There are a lot of carrots but there are n't many potatoes. There's lots of juice but there is n't much water.

Go to Countable and uncountable nouns 2 to learn more.

Try this exercise to test your grammar again.

Countable and uncountable nouns 1: Grammar test 2

Language level

Hello, I want to ask a question.Can I answer 'any' in Grammar Test 2 No.7. Why is the answer 'any shirt'?

• Log in or register to post comments

Hello Aung Qui,

'any shirt' is not correct in that sentence. When there's a negative meaning, we use 'a' with singular nouns (like 'shirt') and 'any' with plural nouns and countable nouns in a sentence like this.

Best wishes, Kirk LearnEnglish team

Hi Is there any difference between this grammar in American English ?

Hello reza-3x,

I can't think of any differences, but if you had something specific in mind, please let us know.

After I finished the lessons, I completely understood how prepositions come with a noun. This lesson helps me a lot. Thank the authority.

Hello! I also have some question about using 'uncountable and countable' words. Regarding the word 'waste' as a noun, it can be used both 'waste' and 'wastes' for the meaning as unwanted material or substance(e.g.nuclear waste, plastic waste). When you say 'A lot of plastic waste goes into the ocean.', can you also say 'Lots of plastic wastes go into the ocean.' or 'A lot of platic wastes go into the ocean.'? I am quite confused what makes a real difference between plastic 'waste' and plastic 'wastes'.

Thank you for your advice!

Hello lily7983,

Waste is usually an uncountable noun and we modify it with quantifiers that go with uncountable nouns: a lot of, a great deal of, some, a little etc.

Wastes (plural) is unusual, but it does exist to describe types of waste. The Cambridge Dictionary gives this example: Oil spills are common, as is the dumping of toxic industrial wastes .

I would not say 'plastic wastes' unless in context you are very specifically talking about a number of different types of plastic waste.

The LearnEnglish Team

I have trouble understanding the punctuation applied by some writers, which is inconsistent with what I learned from grammar books. For instance, I learned that a comma should be placed before coordinating conjunctions such as 'and' and 'but.' However, why is a period sometimes placed before them?

I have another question, too. Which of the following is grammatically correct?

People don't have a good life.

People don't have good lives.

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Understanding Countable And Uncountable Nouns

• Countable Vs. Uncountable Nouns
• Countable Nouns
• Uncountable Nouns
• How To Use Them
• Try Grammar Coach!

Here is a fun challenge: Let’s count some of the things you see around you. Count how many chairs are in the room you are in or how many clouds are in the sky if you are outside. Now, count how much happiness you have—one happiness, two happinesses, 987 happinesses?! Did our little challenge suddenly become a lot more difficult? If you know your grammar, you probably know that the words chairs , clouds , and happiness are all nouns , words that refer to people, places, things, and ideas. Our not-much-fun challenge has shown the difference between two particular types of nouns that we use. These are countable nouns and uncountable nouns.

Countable noun vs. uncountable noun

A countable noun , or count noun , is “a noun that typically refers to a countable thing and that in English can be used in both the singular and the plural and can be preceded by the indefinite article a or an or by a number.”

An uncountable noun , or mass noun , is “a noun that typically refers to an indefinitely divisible substance or an abstract notion, and that in English cannot be used, in such a sense, with the indefinite article or in the plural.”

Putting it simply, countable nouns refer to people, places, things, and ideas that you can count (1, 2, 3, 100, 987,00,000, etc.), and uncountable nouns refer to things you can’t. Let’s explore each of these types of nouns more thoroughly so you can get a better idea of how they are different.

Countable nouns

Of the two, countable nouns are more common and are relatively easier to understand. A simple way to tell if a noun is a countable noun is to ask yourself if the person or thing the noun is referring to can be counted. Most nouns that refer to people and places, for example, are countable nouns. Countable nouns can be either singular nouns or plural nouns. Countable nouns can use the articles a or an, and it makes sense to precede countable nouns with a number.

Examples of countable nouns

Many different nouns that refer to people, places, and things are countable nouns.

• People: friend, strangers, boy, girls, hunter, children, assistant, boss
• Places: island, town, countries, continent, neighborhoods, basement, garages
• Things: bags, hat, computer, books, vehicle, artichokes, wheel, trophies

Although it may seem strange at first glance, some abstract nouns can also be countable nouns. Ask yourself if it makes sense to put the articles a or an or a number in front of these nouns and you will see that these nouns can be countable nouns:

• idea, guesses, question, suggestion, alternatives, opportunities, dream, goals, problem

Don’t count yourself out if you need more explanation. We have a full discussion on countable nouns here.

Uncountable nouns

Compared to countable nouns, uncountable nouns are less common and are often harder to spot. An uncountable noun refers to a thing that cannot be counted. Unlike countable nouns, most uncountable nouns cannot use the articles a or an or can’t be preceded by a number. In addition, most uncountable nouns are treated as singular nouns and they don’t typically have plural forms.

Examples of uncountable nouns

Most uncountable nouns are abstract nouns that refer to things such as emotions, qualities, and concepts.

• Emotions: sadness, happiness, rage, anger, confusion, loneliness, envy
• Qualities: bravery, cruelty, kindness, agility, laziness, dedication, patience
• Concepts: cooperation, obscurity, art, entertainment, boredom, poverty, intelligence

Sometimes, concrete nouns can be uncountable nouns. Look at each of these words and think about if it makes any sense to put the articles a or an or a number in front of them:

• furniture, police, water, luggage, bread, baggage, air, milk, rain, snow, fog, smoke, wood, gold

Explore uncountable nouns even further in our useful article about them.

How do you use countable and uncountable nouns?

We have touched on it a little bit, but we use countable and uncountable nouns in different ways to make grammatically correct sentences.

As we’ve noted, countable nouns can typically use the articles a and an while uncountable nouns can’t. For example, it is correct to say I have a cat , but it is incorrect to say, “I bought a bread at the store.” (Instead, we’d say I bought a loaf of bread at the stores —two loaves, actually, because all this counting is making us hungry.)

Countable nouns can also follow a number while uncountable nouns cannot. You can say She owns three houses but it is wrong to say, “He feels two happinesses.” (Although some people may break grammatical rules for humorous effect.)

Countable nouns can be either singular or plural, which means they can use either singular or plural verbs as in The monkey eats bananas and My sisters are rich. Most uncountable nouns are singular nouns and use singular verbs as in Grammar is important. 

Uncountable nouns often don’t have plural forms: for example, we generally don’t say our house is full of “furnitures” nor do we put “milks” in our coffee. Rather than use plural nouns, we often instead use the form “X of Y” to refer to different amounts of an uncountable noun. For example, we would say that we have three boxes of junk or a load of junk rather than incorrectly saying that we have “three junks” or “a junk.”

However, some uncountable nouns are plural and use plural verbs as in The police are at the crime scene or Those extra services were too expensive . Be careful of sneaky uncountable nouns like these!

The gray areas

Sometimes, a word can appear to be either a countable or uncountable noun depending on how it is used. For example, a person may say they want “two waters” or that they need “three ketchups” when they actually mean they want two bottles of water  or three packets of ketchup.  

This gray area is common when dealing with words with multiple meanings. Sometimes, a word can be either a countable noun or an uncountable noun depending on what exactly it is referring to. For example, the word iron can refer to an appliance used to get wrinkles out of clothes. In this case, iron is a countable noun because it makes sense to say We bought three irons at the store . However, the word iron can also refer to a chemical element. In this case, iron is now an uncountable noun because it doesn’t make sense to say that a molecule has “six irons.” It either contains iron or it doesn’t.

This is especially common when dealing with abstract nouns. For example, delight is an uncountable noun when referring to the happy emotion, but it is a countable noun when it refers to something or someone that causes happiness; It is grammatically correct to say The toy box was filled with many delights.

Tips for differentiating countable vs. uncountable nouns

It may seem obvious, but the biggest tip that will help you decide if a noun is a countable noun or an uncountable noun is to determine if whatever the noun is referring to can be counted or not. If it can, it is a countable noun. If it can’t, it is an uncountable noun. You can count beans, so beans is a countable noun. You can’t count greed, so greed is an uncountable noun.

Countable and uncountable nouns and fewer vs. less

Countable nouns lead us to the heated fewer vs. less debate. In general, we use fewer with countable nouns as in I need to buy fewer apples next time and less with uncountable nouns as in I think the puppy did better with less discipline . However, there are many exceptions to this general rule, such as when referring to distances as in T he store is less than three miles away.

The words less and fewer are used interchangeably more and more often in everyday speech (no matter how grammar purists may feel about it—and they often feel very strongly about it).

Proper nouns issues

Up until now, we have only been focused on common nouns. But what about proper nouns ? In general, we treat all proper nouns as if they are uncountable nouns. Proper nouns almost always follow the rules of uncountable nouns in that it doesn’t make sense to precede them with a , an , or a number. We don’t buy cars made by “a Toyota” and we don’t speak “six Germans.”

However, it is accurate to say that England has had six King Georges . Is the plural noun King Georges a countable noun in this sentence? We cannot solve this debate right now, but the important thing to keep in mind is that some people may argue that proper nouns can be considered countable nouns.

Finally, let’s put everything you have learned about countable and uncountable nouns to the test. Each of the following sentences has one example of a countable and uncountable noun. Can you tell which is which?

• Dolphins are known for their intelligence.
• I need to get more oil for my car.
• The tiny house was made of gingerbread.
• There is a baseball sitting in the grass.
• My daughters love to play baseball.
• I really like grammar , but I still need to learn about nouns .

Sneaky nouns, be gone!

You can count on Thesaurus.com’s Grammar Coach™ . This writing tool  uses machine learning technology uniquely designed to catch grammar and spelling errors. Its Synonym Swap will find the best nouns, adjectives, and more to help say what you really mean, guiding you toward clearer, stronger, writing.

Are you ready for the official quiz on countable vs. uncountable nouns now? Take it here!

Answers: 1. Countable; uncountable 2. Uncountable; countable 3. Countable; uncountable 4. Countable; uncountable 5. Countable; uncountable 6. Uncountable; countable

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Two other nouns that go head-to-head are concrete and abstract nouns. Learn more about them here.

Ways To Say

Synonym of the day

English EFL

Countable and uncountable nouns.

It's important to distinguish between countable and uncountable nouns in English because their usage is different in regards to both determiners and verbs.

COUNTABLE NOUNS

Countable nouns are for things we can count using numbers. They have a singular and a plural form. The singular form can use the determiner "a" or "an". If you want to ask about the quantity of a countable noun, you ask "How many?" combined with the plural countable noun.

• She has  three dogs .
• I own  a house .
• I would like  two books  please.
• How many friends  do you have?

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

Uncountable nouns are for the things that we cannot count with numbers. They may be the names for abstract ideas or qualities or for physical objects that are too small or too amorphous to be counted (liquids, powders, gases, etc.). Uncountable nouns are used with a singular verb. They usually do not have a plural form.

We cannot use  a/an  with these nouns. To express a quantity of an uncountable noun, use a word or expression like  some, a lot of, much, a bit of, a great deal of  , or else use an exact measurement like  a cup of, a bag of, 1kg of, 1L of, a handful of, a pinch of, an hour of, a day of . If you want to ask about the quantity of an uncountable noun, you ask "How much?"

• There has been  a lot of research  into the causes of this disease.
• He gave me  a great deal of advice  before my interview.
• Can you give me  some information  about uncountable nouns?
• He did not have  much sugar  left.
• Measure  1 cup of water, 300g of flour, and 1 teaspoon of salt .
• How much rice do you want?

TRICKY SPOTS

Some nouns are countable in other languages but uncountable in English. They must follow the rules for uncountable nouns. The most common ones are: accommodation, advice, baggage, behavior, bread, furniture, information, luggage, news, progress, traffic, travel, trouble, weather, work

• I would like to give you  some advice .
• How much bread  should I bring?
• I didn't make  much progress  today.
• This looks like  a lot of trouble  to me.
• We did  an hour of work  yesterday.

Be careful with the noun  hair  which is normally uncountable in English, so it is not used in the plural. It can be countable only when referring to individual hairs.

• She has long blond hair.
• The child's hair was curly.
• I washed my hair yesterday.
• My father is getting a few grey hairs now. (refers to individual hairs)
• I found a hair in my soup! (refers to a single strand of hair)

Course Curriculum

• NOUN GENDER 15 mins
• Singular and Plural Nouns 25 mins
• Countable and Uncountable nouns 30 mins
• Compound Nouns 25 mins
• Capitalisation Rules 25 mins
• Nationalities 30 mins

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About Words – Cambridge Dictionary blog

Commenting on developments in the English language

Transitive or intransitive; Countable or uncountable – what does it all mean??

by  Liz Walter

It’s all very well being told that we use many in front of countable plural nouns and much before uncountable nouns, but what happens if you don’t know what ‘countable’ and ‘uncountable’ mean? People like me, who write about language, use these terms all the time but why should we assume that our readers know them? After all, they are quite technical, and most people in the street wouldn’t know their meaning. That’s why I thought we’d take a step back this week and look at a few really basic terms that help learners understand language.

First, countable and uncountable . A countable noun is one like apple or chair that can form a plural.  If we have four chairs, we can count them. An uncountable noun (sometimes called a mass noun ) is one like air or sugar – they are things that you can’t count. It’s important to know the difference because it affects the way other words (like much and many ) are used with the nouns. In the dictionary on this site, countable nouns have [C] written by them and uncountable nouns have [U].

Let’s move on to sentences. When we talk about grammar, it’s often important to know what is the subject and what is the object of a sentence. In very basic terms, the subject is the person or thing that does the action or causes the action. The object is the person or thing affected by the action. Subjects and objects are usually nouns or groups of words acting as nouns. In these sentences, the bold words are the subject and the underlined words are the object:

Ulrika baked a cake .

                The chair in the corner has a broken leg .

Relating to that, when you learn a verb, you need to know if it is transitive or intransitive . A transitive verb such as repair or encourage always has an object. You need to say who or what you are repairing or encouraging. An intransitive verb such as sneeze or laugh has no object. There are also lots of verbs that can be transitive and intransitive:

He doesn’t like to drive. (intransitive)

                He enjoys driving the truck. (transitive)

In the dictionary on this site, intransitive verbs have [I] written by them, transitive verbs have [T], and verbs that can be both have [I, T].

These are probably the most important terms you need to know, but there are a few others that we often use. Modal verbs are verbs such as can or might. (for more information about these see this blog post )

Phrasal verbs are verbs such as give up and put up with that are formed from a verb with one or two particles . They often have a meaning that is very different from the meaning of the verb on its own. There are many posts about phrasal verbs here .

Passive verbs are used when the subject rather than the object is the one experiencing the effect of the action, as in the sentence: The play was written by Shakespeare. (for more information on passive, see this blog post )

Let me know if there are any other grammar terms you don’t understand!

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23 thoughts on “ Transitive or intransitive; Countable or uncountable – what does it all mean?? ”

Countable used in plurals & uncountable won’t be used in pluraas

Sent from my Windows Phone ________________________________

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Pingback: Transitive or intransitive; Countable or uncountable – what does it all mean?? – Cambridge Dictionary About words blog (Feb 01, 2017) | Editorial Words

You explain it very well.Although I read your post randomly yet,it is informative snd sooths one’s query.plz keep on sending.Tankyou so much.

I like the Cambridge English is being specific about the english word that was savant.

I have the same position.

I like the English Cambrige is the english word Savant was specific .

English speakers used to say fewer people and less cheese. Now it more common to say less people. is it a kind of pragmatic change; a change in language rule or is it a result of hypercorrection.

I think it’s pragmatic – after all, we don’t have different words for ‘more’.

It is not a pragmatic change, it’s a mistake. You never use “much” with people, you use “many”. Same with less vs fewer.

I think it depends what you mean by ‘mistake’. Of course, you can say ‘fewer people’, but in contemporary, everyday English, it is very common to say ‘less people’, and not considered incorrect by most people.

It was really useful .thank you

Thankyou for this useful post… Although one might think they knw d meaning of these words as they r basics of grammar but wen they r asked d exact meaning they can’t say it and get confused…this post clears all dat confusion…

hey my name is Katie lynn quezambra

I get very annoyed when I hear or read “THE MOST NUMBER”.It just doesn’t sound right. I would appreciate your opinion ..john gerhardt

I would agree that this is not right. You need to say ‘the biggest/largest/greatest number’

But what about a sentence like “The most of numbers, from ” to are composite numbers.”, meaning “The most of numbers, from ” to are not prime numbers.”? Is this correct?

That is not correct. Perhaps you mean ‘Most of the numbers …’?

Reblogged this on egilbi .

Sorry for being so “noisy”, but I actually typed “from some number to some, larger, number”, not just one “open quotation mark”, “to” and “blank”. Your “input system” must have “reinterpreted” my typing … Sorry once more.

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• Grammar & vocab

How to tell if a word is countable or uncountable

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This is one of my students. And he has a typical grammar problem:

“Help – I don’t know if this word is countable or uncountable!”

Actually, it’s not just one of my students – most of my students get confused over countable and uncountable nouns when they first meet them.

Recognising if a word is countable or uncountable can be tricky. Here are two tips I usually give my students:

If you see a number or a,  or  an before a noun, then it’s countable:

• 1 egg 1 egg, 2 eggs (countable)
• 1 cat 1 cat, 2 cats (countable)
• a foot 1 foot, 2 feet (countable)
• an explanation 1 explanation, 2 explanations (countable)
• information (uncountable)
• music  (uncountable) 

If you can add ‘s’ or ‘es’ to a noun, it’s countable:

• chair ⇒ chairs
• tomato ⇒ tomatoes

Remember – with some countable nouns we do NOT add ‘s’ to form the plural (but that doesn’t mean they’re not countable):

• 1 child ⇒ 2 children
• 1 woman ⇒ 2 women
• 1 man ⇒ 2 men
• 1 mouse ⇒ 2 mice
• 1 tooth ⇒ 2 teeth
• 1 foot ⇒ 2 feet

That’s it

So that’s how we tell if a noun is countable. And when a noun is not countable, it is – of course – UNCOUNTABLE!

That’s all for this post. Have funs fun!

Anonymous - October 20, 2015, 11:36 pm Reply

Hey Stuart, thanks for the tips. However, you have to consider that those rules don’t apply in language transference. For example, in Brazilian Portuguese (my native language), your first example wouldn’t work, because both information and music are countable words in Portuguese. What I’m saying is, when students think about the first language and try to come up with rules for English, they tend to use the same rules. Therefore, when a student comes and reads the tips you’re sharing, they will definitely think “Why is information/music uncountable?”

Deise Palmieri - June 29, 2017, 12:40 pm Reply

Totally agree with Anonymous. One cannot assume that speakers of other languages will reason in the same way as native speakers of English do. The rule ‘if there is a quantifier before the noun, it is countable’ is obvious as so is the irregular plural one. Surely, this is not the kind of doubt students would have. Latin language speakers (Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French and Romanian) are faced with the dilemma described by Anonymous while in the Asian group, at least for the Japanese and Chinese even the quantifier rule would not apply as their nouns do not agree with quantifiers, e.g. 1 pen, 2 pen, many pen, some pen. I could deliver a lecture on the topic but suffice to say that it is better to acquaint the students with the concept and have them practice the words as much as possible through good listening and reading texts as well as writing exercises. A good tip of Asians, as they are so used to it in their own formal education systems, is to memorise the lists available online and in reliable grammar books.

Ondra - March 11, 2020, 5:52 pm Reply

It is an apt reply. My native language is Czech and these tips just cannot work when you start learning a new language. There is not always a number before a noun or (s) when it is written in singular. In Czech, information is countable, so first we have to learn that in English it is uncountable. We cannot assume whether “egg” is count. or uncount. when we do not know the word. These tips are useful for English native speakers only.

Stuart Cook - March 11, 2020, 9:38 pm Reply

It’s true that there might not always be a number before a noun, but what I’m saying here is that if you do see a number before a noun, then you can be sure that the noun is countable.

Sarah Miller - November 23, 2015, 9:45 am Reply

Thanks for sharing information on Grammar problems!!

Yomimasoy - June 14, 2016, 10:38 pm Reply

Please, Mr. Anonymous, Mr. Stuart is speaking specifically about the English language.

Angie - July 1, 2016, 1:19 pm Reply

Hi Stuart, your tips have been very helpful, thanks for that. If you allow me to, I would add : For many uncountable nouns, it is necessary to use a tool to measure them, such as: temperature (thermometer), grains (kg, spoon, etc), liquid (liter, ml, glass, cup, etc), and so on. Cheers

Irina - August 13, 2019, 1:32 am Reply

Hi! Well, these tips are good for native speakers and, unfortunately, cannot be applied by ESLs, especially when there is an absence of articles in their native language. In Russian, we don’t have articles and to choose an appropriate one within a sentence in English we need to know if the noun is countable or not! I cannot know if it is possible to add numerals before garlic, for example. Why not say two garlics? At least it is possible to say “two onions”! I, personally, do not see any difference between onions and garlic, but still “onion” is a countable noun and “garlic” is an uncountable one? What logics should I follow to recognize countability?

Sujata Ghara - March 1, 2021, 6:15 am Reply

What about the word ‘Wool’ is a countable or uncountable noun

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• Transcription

Countability and uncountability

If you have followed the guide to word class (new tab), you'll know that nouns can be countable ( table, dog etc .) or uncountable ( water, love, sugar, anger etc.).  You'll also know that some can be both (the seven seas, the sea is rough, sugar is bad for you, two sugars, love is admirable, the loves of her life ) .

Here we look a bit harder at this very important distinction.  In the picture above, therefore, we can talk about an uncountable noun ( weight ) and a countable one ( kilo[s] ).  Note, too, that we can have weights but in a different meaning. This is not only a very important distinction, it is one that not all languages share and which causes really serious problems for learners at all levels. In English, it is almost impossible to use a noun correctly unless one first decides whether the noun is to be used as a count noun or as a mass noun.

The usual distinction made in classrooms is between countability and uncountability and that's probably enough for most learners.  However, we teachers need to know a bit more about the area so a better categorisation is between mass nouns and count nouns.  Often, the term uncountable noun is wrongly used for count nouns which are only plural but obviously countable.  We can say three people or six cattle and this means that the nouns are count nouns but plurals (albeit slightly odd plurals).  Both people and cattle are count nouns but they only occur in the plural.

While the terms countable and uncountable nouns are helpful for some purposes, they are misleading.

For example, money is a mass noun we can count.  We cannot say     *How many money? but have to choose     How much money?

Almost all mass nouns can be made count nouns by the use of another noun so we can have     some cake → a slice of cake     some cheese → a bit of cheese     lots of a information → two pieces of information     too much sugar → three kilos of sugar etc.  What we do here is add a measure ( pint, yard, kilo etc.) or a partitive ( bit, piece, lump, slice, rasher, pane, chunk etc.)

By the same token, it is arguably advisable to tell our learners about count and mass uses rather than count and mass nouns because that's nearer the truth of the matter.  For example, we can have:     How much cheese is in the fridge? and     How many cheeses are in the fridge?     The rough sea is coming over the harbour. and     The rough seas are coming over the harbour.

There are two simple enough differences.  Here they are:

• Count nouns form plurals, mass nouns do not.  We allow, therefore:     table-tables     desk-desks     house-houses etc. but do not allow:     petrol-*petrols     information-*informations     help-*helps
• Mass nouns can occur without a determiner or plural form as the subject and object of verbs.  We can have:     I got advice     Money helped     I have furniture     Information was provided     Rain fell but not     *I got suggestion     *Window broke     *She has pen     *Chair was comfortable although making the count nouns plural or adding a determiner such as an article allows:     I got suggestions     She has her pen     I have the chair     The drops fell

This is the simplest category but it's not always obvious from the form whether a noun is a count noun or not.  The usual defining characteristic of a count noun is its ability to form a plural (usually with -s ) when it demands a plural verb form.  Secondarily, is the fact that one can use the indefinite article ( a[n] ) before it.  There are some important exceptions and irregular forms to consider.

Count nouns which only appear in the plural

• cattle, people, police, vermin etc. But there are corresponding nouns which can be used in the ordinary, count way: cow, person, police officer, rat .
• objects containing two equal parts, e.g.: trousers, tongs, scissors, glasses etc. are either never found in the singular or have a different meaning in that form.  For example:     A: Where's my glass?     B: It's in front of you.  Put your glasses on!
• Some count nouns have no singular form.  For example: annals, arrears, earnings, outskirts, valuables, savings etc. You can put a determiner such as few, many etc. before these but not a number ( many valuables, *six valuables )
• Count nouns may have a plural-only form but a singular or mass form which has a different meaning.  For example: arms (weaponry, countable only plural) vs. arm (limb, countable) grounds (reason, countable only plural) vs. ground (surface of the earth, mass noun) damages (money awarded for by a court, countable only plural) vs. damage (harm, mass noun)

Irregular plurals

There are quite a number of common irregular plurals (mostly the result of retaining older forms) and some other oddities to know about:

• old plural forms : louse / lice, mouse / mice, ox / oxen, man / men, foot / feet, tooth / teeth etc.  These are well known and can be taught as they occur.  There's no rule.
• zero plurals : sheep, deer, grouse, dozen (when it's exact, dozens when it means lots ).  The names of many different animals (especially fish) work this way.  We can have:     five dozen people came vs. dozens arrived     one sheep vs . sixteen sheep     some fish for tea vs . three fish in the pond [but fishes is also possible in this sense]
• the f vs. v problem : plurals such as     roofs, dwarfs, handkerchiefs are common but the regular form (and increasingly the regular pronunciation) is to change the f to a v in the plural and add -es :     wolves, halves, ?rooves
• the -os vs. -oes problem : the regular plural of nouns ending in -o is to add -s ( radios, kilos etc.) but there are a number which add -es ( potato, tomato ) and some which can do both ( mosquito ).
• foreign plurals : sometimes English retains the plural form of the language from which the noun has come:     phenomenon / phenomena, antenna / antennae, larva / larvae, crisis / crises sometimes we can choose either the foreign or English plural ( syllabuses or syllabi ) and sometimes the word is pluralised in one use ( index / indices in scientific writing but indexes in non-scientific use)
• plurals made singular : graffiti, data and media are all plurals often treated as singular in English.  The use of criteria instead of criterion as a singular is just wrong.

Nouns modifying other nouns

Many count nouns can work to modify other nouns, by a process called compounding or by classifying the noun in some way, e.g.:     a book sale, a pencil case, a saloon car, a windmill In this use the singular is used for the first noun unless there's a possibility of ambiguity.  So we get     a book shop, a two-hour shift, a four-year-old child, boy scouts, child actor etc. but not:     *three bookshops, *a four-years-old child etc. There are some exceptions: men friends, women doctors and some avoiding ambiguity such as arms race . Notice here, too, that some nouns which are nearly always plural only appear in the singular when modifying other nouns:     spectacle case, binocular case, trouser pocket .

There are times when the amount of a count noun really doesn't matter – it's the concept we want to express so we treat the nouns as mass nouns and leave out the article.  We get, therefore, example such as:

go to / be in bed, church, school, hospital etc. travel by / go by car, bicycle, plane, rail ferry etc. at / before / after / by / in dawn, sunset, sunrise, autumn, day, night etc.

Many reference books treat these kinds of thing as idioms to be learned separately but it is conceptually easier to see them as unmarked forms (Chalker 1987: 29).

There are a number of other expressions in which the noun is not marked for plural or singular forms.  Here's a list (also based on Chalker, op cit.):

• Other prepositional phrases: by chance, on call, by hand, in mind, at heart etc.
• Parallel structures: arm in arm, eye to eye, year after year etc.
• Double structures: hand over fist, life after death, hand on heart etc.

It's easy enough to spot normal mass nouns because

• you can't put the indefinite article in front of them ( *a milk, *a money, *a bread etc.)
• they normally have no plural form ( *milks, *furnitures, *informations etc.)

So we get the common list of mass nouns:

advice, anger, assistance, bread, chaos, courage, dirt, education, information, leisure, luck, machinery, milk, news, permission, poetry, rubbish, shopping, transport, weather etc.

These are mass nouns in English but not in many languages.

Many abstract nouns in English are mass nouns so we can include in the list, e.g.:     advice, anger, happiness, information, knowledge, news etc. but that is not an entirely reliable rule because:     belief, joy, pleasure, prejudice, suggestion, theory and virtue can all be used as count nouns.

Nouns with both mass and count uses

• These sometimes have subtle distinctions but the meaning is close.  Examples are:     Unemployment is affecting business vs. Businesses are closing     Noise is a problem here vs. The noises can be disturbing     Chocolate is addictive vs . These chocolates are delicious
• Sometimes the distinctions are much greater in meaning.  For example:     Dress is formal vs. She's wearing a formal dress     It's made of iron vs. Most people have electric irons     The works of Shakespeare vs. Finding work is difficult ( Sex is another of these nouns, by the way.)
• Occasionally, English users like to omit what are often called unit nouns.  Unit nouns (better known as partitives) are the items we use to express a quantity of a mass noun.  So we have, e.g.:     a blade of grass     a pint of beer     a bit of cotton     a piece of furniture     a teaspoon of sugar     a cup of coffee etc. Sometimes, the unit noun is omitted to allow two sugars, three beers, a few coffees etc.  This is not particularly common and can't occur with most mass nouns.  It's also informal.
• Almost all mass nouns can be used as count nouns when we are classifying: Spanish wines, Greek cheeses, spicy foods etc. but some remain resiliently mass nouns ( furniture, information, music , for example).

In English, but not in all languages, whether a noun is mass or count controls how it is determined.  Quantifiers are, for obvious reasons, the most affected.  For example:

• A count noun in the plural can appear with the zero article:     Parrots are interesting birds
• A count noun in the singular cannot appear with the zero article:     *Parrot is interesting bird
• A mass noun can stand with the zero article:     Food for parrots must be carefully selected
• A mass noun cannot appear with the indefinite article:     *A food for parrots must be chosen carefully

Some common quantifiers and determiners are unaffected and insensitive to the distinction, including a lot of, any, the, some and more . There is a list of quantifiers which notes which are restricted and which not on this site, linked in the list of related guides at the end.

English is slightly unusual in have a range of pairs of nouns which mean more or less the same thing but one is count and the other mass. Here's a short list:

Often, what is called a superordinate is a mass noun and the hyponyms which lie below it (and are included in the superordinate) are count nouns.  So for example, we get:

Take the test .

References: Chalker, S, 1987, Current English Grammar , London: Macmillan

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(1) [This wine ] is not as sweet as that we were offered last Christmas.

(2) [ Gravity ] is an important force.

(3) [This information ] is useless.

(4) [Research] tends to take a lot of time.

Uncountable/Countable nouns

(1) She had three beers yesterday . (2) This is actually a beer that I don't like.

Grammar-Quizzes › Noun Phrases › Nouns › Count/Noncount Nouns

Count / Noncount Nouns

Differentiate individual nouns from mass and collective nouns, unit noun vs. collective noun.

Yes, we count money – coins and bills. However , money (the collective noun) is noncount.

Related pages Quantity Phrases and Food Quantifiers .

Noun Markers

Determiners and demonstratives, determiners used with count and noncount nouns.

Demonstratives: this (near)  / that (far); here (near) / there (far)

See: A Determiner "Basic Markers", Demonstratives (this, that) Some / Any , Little / Few  

Noncount Nouns

Fluids, solids, gases, particles, and concepts.

¹singular, but happens to end in -s. See Unusual Singular & Plural Noun Forms (pants, measles, mathematics, scissors)

Count vs. Noncount Form

Fruit vs. fruits.

Singular vs. Preference (Dialectal Variation)

*The plural form is more commonly used in a scientific context when talking about different types of fruit : Fruits of South America, Fruits of Micronesia, or in an expression "May we soon enjoy the fruits of our labor."   ( Fruits means "beneficial results".)

"Megabat." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 3 Aug. 2016, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megabat .  Accessed on 21 Aug. 2016.

Also see Plural–Varieties .  Dialectal variations occur for the noun fruit, grapefruit, breadfruit and eggplant.

Also see Food Quantifiers .

The items within the category "fruit" are countable.

Noun is both count and noncount, express a particular one vs. a more general one, abstract (concept) nouns—count and noncount.

* Not used / ~ sounds awkward, requires a special context to use

(Huddleston 334-40) ( Swan 148-9)

Also see Word Forms [imagination vs. revolution] | Unusual Singular & Plural Noun Forms .

Material Nouns (not abstract)—Count and Noncount

Common mistakes, errors and solutions, error and solution.

*Yellow highlighted words are examples of incorrect usage.

An item vs. a mass or collective noun

Select the count or the noncount noun..

• Select the response from the list that best completes the sentence. 
• Compare your response to the feedback by clicking the "check" button.

The group noun meat  may consist of several meat cuts.

Meat is not countable.

A steak is / steaks are countable.  (a chop, a roast, a slice, a cut)

The group noun equipment  may consist of several computers.

The group noun scenery may consist of several views.  , the group noun luggage may consist of several suitcases..

A bag is / bags are countable. (a suitcase, a backpack, a briefcase, a purse)

The group noun software may consist of several programs .

The group noun  art  may consist of several paintings or pieces ..

Art   is not countable.

A painting is / paintings are countable. (a photograph, a picture, a sculpture)

The group noun candy may consist of several pieces .

The group noun work may consist of several jobs ..

Work is not countable. (employment)

A job is / jobs are countable.  (a task, a chore, a project)

The group noun mail consist of several letters .

Mail is not countable. (email)

A letter is / letters are countable.  (a message, an email, a note)

The group noun clothing may consist of several shirts.  

The group noun slang may consist of several expressions .

Slang words are informal usage; expressions may include slang and, therefore, are formal and informal usage.

The group noun furniture may consist of several chairs .

Furniture is not countable

A chair is / chairs are countable.

The group noun hair consists of several hairs .

Hair is not countable

A hair is / hairs are countable. A strand of hair / strands of hair are countable.

Hairs are individual ones (one or two)  found on the floor, on clothing and occasionally in food!

The group noun rain consists of several drops .

Rain is not countable.  

A raindrop is countable. / Raindrops are countable.