4. There are some nouns we can use in both
countable and uncountable form;
Countable Meaning
There is a hair in my soup
A chicken escaped from the henhouse.
My favorite works of art are from China.
Uncountable Meaning
Sandra has black and long hair.
We had chicken for dinner.
It takes work to prepare a meal.
5. Countable nouns have a
plural form
Singular: a car
an eggplant
Plural
Form
Three
books
Some
books
Many
books
COUNTABLE NOUNS
6. We can use countable nouns with certain
definition of numbers.
For example; two kilograms tomatoes, five
dictionaries, seven group of cows, tons of
oranges, three kilograms lemons, eighty students
COUNTABLE NOUNS
7. a mobile phone
a computer
a business
magazine
an english book
a dictionary
five mobile phones
seven computers
three business
magazines
nine english books
eleven dictionaries
SINGULAR FORM PLURAL FORM
COUNTABLE NOUNS
8. Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts
etc that we cannot divide into separate
elements. We cannot "count" them.
For example, we cannot count "milk". We can
count "bottles of milk" ( quantifiers) or "litres
of milk", but we cannot count "milk" itself.
UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
11. Some Examples with Uncountable
Nouns
I drink a cup of coffee in everyday.
There is any sugar in the kitchen.
My mother buy seven bottles of milk for a
week.
She eats a bar of chocolate whenever she
wants.
He met me with a bunch of flower in his arms.
There is so much butter in this meal.
Everybody feels the love inside himself.
12. We have a group of furniture in our house.
They wanted some salt for their plumbs.
In summer, I like drinking water with a block of
ice.
I bought a pocket of tea for my guests.
There was so much snow that we all were cold
when we were outside.
The room has little ligth. We nearly can see
each other.
13. Identify the following objects as countable or
uncountable.
1. Q: Information 4. Q: Money
a) countable a) countable
b) uncountable b) uncountable
2. Q: Rules 5. Q: Rice
a) countable a) countable
b) uncountable b) uncountable
3. Q: Sheep 6. Q: Bottles Of Syrup
a) countable a) countable
b) uncountable b) uncountable
17. Some: Affirmative
sentences:
There is some money
Any: Negative and Interrogative
sentences:
Is there any money?
No, there isn’t.
There isn’t any money
18. Other Uses of ‘any’
To mean “all” or “every”
Any Sales Managers can sale these products
For comparison, we use any
This situation is more serious than anyone predicts
This case is too complicated than anything happened
19. Replace the underlined words with a word
or phrase from these italic words below
a few much all no few most
1. Not many but some of our clients responded to the survey
2. The majority of them had some positive comments to make
3. Not one of our customers thought our products were
unreliable
4. A lot of constructive criticism centred on product
distribution and delivery
5. Not many and not enough customers wanted regular news
on our new products and services
6. Every one of the respondents said our packaging was good
20. I need _____ time to study.
some
7-8 Let’s Practice
some any
24. 1. There isn't _____ sugar in my coffee.
2. There are ______ oranges in the
fridge.
3. There aren't ______ tomatoes on the
table.
4. There is ______ oil in the kitchen.
5. There is ______ orange juice.
35. We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular : We
use a singular verb. For example:
This news is very important.
Your luggage looks heavy.
You can count uncountable nouns if you use:
A piece of… cheese
A bowl of… soup
A cup of… tea
A bottle of…syrup
A carton of…milk
A bar of… chocolate
MILK
36. Here are some of the most common containers /
quantity expressions for these uncountable
nouns:
advice - a piece of advice
baggage - a piece of baggage
bread - a slice of bread, a loaf of bread
equipment - a piece of equipment
furniture - a piece of furniture
garbage - a piece of garbage
information - a piece of information
knowledge - a fact
37. luggage - a piece of luggage, a bag, a
suitcase
money - a note, a coin
musica – a song, a piece
news - a piece of news
pasta - a plate of pasta, a serving of
pasta
research - a piece of research, a
research project
travel - a journey, a trip
work - a job, a position
38. Here are some more common uncountable food types
with their container / quantity expressions:
liquids (water, beer, juice etc.) - a glass, a bottle, a
jug of water, etc.
cheese - a slice, a chunk, a piece of cheese
meat - a piece, a slice, a pound of meat
butter - a bar of butter
ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard - a bottle of, a
tube of ketchup, etc.
39. All
Many (of the)
Most (of the)
A lot of
Lots of
Several (of the)
A few (of the)
Few (of the)
no
All of the
Most (of the)
Much of the
A lot of the
Lots of
Several (of the)
a little (of the)
Little (of the)
no
COUNTABLE UNCOUNTABLE
40. References:
Basic of English Betty Schrampfer A., New Jersey:
Prentice Hall Regent, 1989
The Language of Business English (Grammar and
Functions). Prentice Hall International Ltd, London,
1994
www.taipolst.edu.hk/.../P2CountableNouns_and_Uncou
ntableNouns.ppt (has been downloaded in November
2014)
egitim.erciyes.edu.tr/.../2.../50Countable-uncount.PPT
(has been downloaded in November 2014)
www.educacional.com.br/.../countable%20and%20unc
ountable%20noun. (has been downloaded in
November 2014)
