A noun is a part of speech that names a person, place, thing, quality, or action. Countable nouns can be counted, like pens, while uncountable nouns cannot be counted discretely, like milk. Countable nouns form their plurals regularly by adding -s, but some take irregular plural forms or change their ending, such as nouns ending in -o, -y, -ch, -s, -sh, -x, or -z. The same noun can sometimes be countable or uncountable depending on its meaning.

2. What is a noun?
A noun is a part of speech that is used to name a person,
place, thing, quality, or action.

3. Countable nouns are easy to recognize. They are things
that we can count. For example: "pen". We can count pens.
We can have one, two, three or more pens. Here are some
more countable nouns: dog, cat, animal, man, person,
bottle, box, litre, coin, note, pound, cup, plate, fork, table,
chair, suitcase, bag, etc.

4. Countable Nouns
Most nouns make their plurals by simply
adding –s to the end (e.g. cat/cats, book/books,
journey/journeys). Some do change their endings,
though. The main types of noun that do this are:

5. Countable Nouns
1. Nouns ending in -y
If the noun ends with a consonant plus -y, make the plural by
changing -y to -ies:
Singular Plural
berry berries
activity activities
country countries

6. Countable Nouns
2. Nouns ending in -ch, -s, -sh, -x, or -z
If the noun ends with -ch, -s, -sh, -x, or -z, add -es to
form the plural:
Singular Plural
church churches
bus buses
fox foxes

7. Countable Nouns
3. Nouns ending in -f or -fe
With nouns that end in a consonant or a single vowel
plus -f or -fe, change the -f or -fe to -ves:
Singular Plural
knife knives
wife wives
leaf leaves

8. Countable Nouns
4. Nouns ending in -o
Nouns ending in -o can add either -s or -es in the
plural, and some can be spelled either way.
Singular Plural
knife knives
wife wives
leaf leaves

9. Countable Nouns
4. Nouns ending in -o
Nouns ending in -o can add either -s or -es in the plural,
and some can be spelled either way. As a general rule, most
nouns ending in -o add -s to make the plural:
Singular Plural
radio radios
studio studios
photo photos

10. Countable Nouns
4. Nouns ending in -o
Here’s a list of the most common nouns ending in -o
that are always spelled with -es in the plural:
Singular Plural
tomato tomatoes
potato potatoes
mosquito mosquitoes

11. Countable Nouns
A number of nouns have irregular plural forms:
Singular Plural
child children
ox oxen
foot feet
goose geese
tooth teeth
mouse mice
louse lice
mouse mice
woman women
man men

12. Uncountable Nouns
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" or "litres of milk", but
we cannot count "milk" itself. Here are some more
uncountable nouns: music, art, love, happiness, advice,
information, news, furniture, luggage, rice, sugar,
butter, water, electricity, gas, power, money, currency,
etc.

13. Sometimes, the same noun can be countable and
uncountable, often with a change of meaning.
Countable Uncountable
There are two hairs in my coffee! hair I don't have much hair.
There are two lights in our bedroom. light
Close the curtain. There's too much
light!
Shhhhh! I thought I heard a noise.
There are so many different noises in
the city.
noise
It's difficult to work when there is so
much noise.
Have you got a paper to read?
(newspaper)
Hand me those student papers.
paper
I want to draw a picture. Have you got
some paper?
Our house has seven rooms. room Is there room for me to sit here?
We had a great time at the party.
How many times have I told you no?
time Have you got time for a cup of coffee?
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's
greatest works.
work I have no money. I need work!

14. 1. http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/nouns-un-
countable.htm
2. http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/noununcount.htm
3. John Hughes and Ceri Jones, 2011,’Practical Grammar’,
Heinle Cengage Learning
BIBLIOGRAPHY