Countable nouns are the names of separate objects, people, ideas etc., which we can count. We can use numbers and the articles a/an with countable nouns; they have plurals.

Examples are:

A dog
Two dogs
My dog

Uncountable nouns are the names of materials, liquids, abstract ideas, collections and other things which we see as masses without clear boundaries, and not as separate objects. Most uncountable nouns are singular with no plurals. Note that we cannot use numbers with uncountable nouns. The article a/an is also not normally used with uncountable nouns.

Examples are:

Rice (NOT a rice or two rices)
Wool (NOT a wool or two wools)

Some determiners can only be used with countable nouns. Examples are: many and few.

He has few friends.
She has many friends.

There are also some determiners which are only used with uncountable nouns. Examples are: much, little

How many chairs do you want? (NOT How much chairs do you want?)
How much money do you earn? (NOT How many money do you earn?)

A noun can have both countable and uncountable uses, sometimes with a difference of meaning.

Problem cases
It is usually easy to see whether a noun is countable or uncountable. Chair, for example, is a countable noun, but rice isn't. However, sometimes things are not so clear. The nouns travel and journey, for example, have very similar meanings. But travel is uncountable in English, while journey is countable.

Different languages treat nouns in different ways. For example, hair is uncountable in English, but is countable in many other languages. In the same way, grapes is a plural countable noun in English, but uncountable in some other languages.

Here is a list of some common words which are usually uncountable in English. Corresponding countable expressions are also given.

Uncountable / Countable
Accommodation / A place to live
Advice/ A piece of advice / some advice
Baggage/ A piece of baggage; a case; a bag
Bread / A piece of bread; a loaf; a roll
Chess / A game of chess
Chewing gum / A piece of chewing gum
Equipment / A piece of equipment; a tool
Furniture / A piece / an article of furniture
Grass / A blade of grass
Information / A piece of information
Knowledge / A fact
Lightning / A flash of lightning
Luck / A bit of luck; a stroke of luck
Luggage / A piece of luggage
Money / A note; a coin; a sum
News / A piece of news
Poetry / A poem
Research / A piece of research
Thunder / A clap of thunder
Work / A piece of work; a job

Manjusha Nambiar is the founder and editor of Grammar English.Org. Her blog gives free English Grammar lessons, quizzes and grammar worksheets http://grammarenglish.org/english-grammar-worksheets.

[Edited by Administrator (admin) Wed, 06 Jul 2011, 03:38 PM]