Uncountable Nouns English Grammar Lesson

hi I’m Martin welcome to Oxford online

English in this lesson you can learn

about countable and uncountable nouns in

English what’s the difference between

paper and a paper why do we say trousers

are but news is why can’t you say can

you give me an advice you’ll learn the

answers to all these questions in this

lesson where should we start

some nouns are countable you can count

them for example pens accountable you

can count them one n two pens three pens

and so on some nouns are uncountable

you can’t code them for example water is

uncountable one water two waters no that

doesn’t work you can’t count water do

you know any other uncountable nouns

you’ll see more examples in the next

section but here are three money rice

and knowledge are all uncountable nouns

countable and uncountable nouns behave

differently they follow different rules

first uncountable nouns can’t be plural

that means you can’t say money’s Rice’s

or knowledge –is these form don’t exist

secondly you need to use a singular verb

with unkind

or nouns for example this rice doesn’t

taste right your money is on the table

his knowledge of this subject has

improved significantly next you can’t

use a or an with an uncountable noun you

can’t say a rice a money or a knowledge

however you can use some or any for

example is there any rice left you’ll

need some money for the bus finally we

use different words to talk about

quantities with countable and

uncountable nouns with countable nouns

we use many to talk about large

quantities and few to talk about small

quantities with uncountable nouns we use

much and little you can use a lot of or

lots of with both countable and

uncountable nouns for example there

isn’t much rice left but there aren’t

many potatoes left there’s a little

money in my pocket but there are a few

coins in that small box ok so now you

know the basics about uncountable nouns

and how to use them next an important

question many uncountable nouns are

words for food and drink such as pasta

meat fruit coffee beer

or milk be careful because fruit is

uncountable but vegetables are countable

many collective nouns are uncountable

collective nouns are nouns which

describe a group of objects all together

for example furniture equipment luggage

or traffic finally abstract nouns are

often uncountable

for example knowledge information advice

or progress ok I have a challenge for

you you have three groups of nouns here

food and drink collective nouns and

abstract nouns I want you to pause the

video and find one more uncountable noun

to add to each group that means you need

to find one uncountable food or drink

noun 1 uncountable collective noun and

one uncountable abstract now write down

your answers why are you still here

pause the video and find your answers ok

finished but there’s a problem there are

many possible answers you could have

here how can you check easy find a

dictionary you can use an online

dictionary such as long run or a paper

dictionary if you’re feeling a bit old

school look up the words you wrote down

in the dictionary it should tell you if

they’re countable or uncountable

some dictionaries do this by adding a

you for uncountable or a C for countable

after the known different dictionaries

have different styles so now you can

check your answers were they correct now

things get more complicated if nouns

could only be countable or uncountable

this topic would be very simple however

many nouns can be both countable and

uncountable with different meanings for

example paper can be countable or

uncountable do you know the difference

what’s the difference between paper and

a paper paper is the material that you

write on a paper is another way to say a

newspaper let’s look at some more

examples like this think about it what’s

the difference between fish and a fish

glass and a glass time and a time ready

let’s look at the answers fish

uncountable means the food you eat fish

a fish countable means one whole animal

either living or dead

compare we eat a lot of fish we eat a

lot of fish in general there’s a fish in

the toilet one living fish he ate three

whole fish three whole animals

what about glass and a glass glass is a

material a glass is something you drink

out of

for example the sculpture was made of

glass

would you like a glass of water finally

how about time and a time time is the

general meaning of time it’s such a

basic idea I can’t really explain it in

more simple terms a time has a similar

meaning to an occasion or a period look

at some examples I don’t have much free

time how much time will you need to

finish this there have been many times

when I wanted to give up we had a good

time at their barbecue can you see the

difference now so there are many nouns

which can be both countable and

uncountable often with different

meanings there are too many examples to

explain them all here but I will give

you one general idea which might be

helpful

often when a noun can be countable or

uncountable the uncountable noun has a

general or collective meaning

the countable known has a specific

meaning for example think about the word

hair it can be countable or uncountable

hair uncountable has a general meaning

it means for example the stuff that

grows on your head hair cannibal has a

more specific meaning have you ever made

the mistake in English where you say

something like my friend Jacob has a

long hair if you say this you mean that

your friend has one long hair that’s

probably not what you meant to say right

instead say my friend Jacob has long

hair to really understand countable and

uncountable nouns you’ll have to

remember a lot of information

however this basic idea can help you

uncountable nouns are more general and

abstract countable nouns are more

specific in this lesson we’ve talked

about countable nouns uncountable nouns

unknowns which can be both there are a

few strange nouns which don’t fit

cleanly into any of these categories for

example we said at the beginning that

uncountable nouns can’t be plural you

can’t say Rice’s or knowledge –is

that’s generally true but there are some

uncountable nouns which can only be

plural

they are police clothes trousers

scissors you can’t make these nouns

singular you can’t say one police or one

trouser remember to use a plural verb

with these nouns for example the police

have interviewed all the witnesses these

trousers don’t fit well careful with the

scissors they’re sharp

another strange word is news it’s

uncountable and singular even though it

ends with an S so don’t say the news are

depressing at the moment instead say the

news is depressing at the moment finally

there are some collective nouns like

staff team or crew some of these are

uncountable like staff and others can be

countable like team or crew these nouns

are generally made plural in British

English in the UK we say the staff

aren’t happy with the new uniform the

team are playing well at the moment

however in the US these collective nouns

are often singular in the US you might

hear the staff isn’t happy with the new

uniform the team is playing well at the

moment both are possible but try to be

consistent if you make these nouns

plural then they should always be plural

if you make them singular you should

always make them singular that said

native speakers aren’t always consistent

don’t worry about it too much and don’t

be surprised if you hear both forms okay

we have one more thing to do the point

of uncountable nouns is that you can’t

count them but sometimes you need to

what can you do take an uncountable

known you saw earlier rice

there’s no way to count rice directly

rice can never be countable you can

never say 3 Rice’s but sometimes you

need to count things even if they’re

uncountable how can you count rice

actually there are many ways to do it

rice is made up of single grains of rice

here is one grain of rice you can also

have a bag of rice a packet of rice or a

portion of rice by adding a noun plus of

you can make an uncountable noun

countable let’s see how this works in

some example sentences there was a

single grain of rice left at the bottom

of this bowl can you get two of those

big bags of rice we’d like three

portions of rice please like with rice

there are often many different nouns you

can add to make an uncountable known

countable that’s the good news the bad

news is that you need to add different

nouns depending on the uncountable noun

you’re using let’s practice this so you

can see what I mean

here are five uncountable nouns how

could you make them countable think

about your answers ready let’s look

together you can give someone a piece of

advice or two pieces of advice if you’re

feeling generous add a piece all to make

advice countable a piece of is very

useful because you can use it to make

many uncountable nouns countable you can

also have a piece of bread with bread

you have other possibilities a loaf of

bread

or a slice of bread what about money you

can have a sum of money or an amount of

money for example you could say he’s

lost a large amount of money trying to

play the stock market for furniture you

could say a piece of furniture or

possibly an item of furniture although

this is very formal and not common

finally what about coffee you can have a

cup of coffee a packet of coffee a

spoonful of coffee or a pot of coffee in

all these cases there are other possible

answers however these are the most

common ones so that’s it for this class

check out the full version of this

lesson on our website Oxford online

English com

you can read the text and practice with

our quiz thanks for watching and see you

next time