Uncountable Nouns Learn English Grammar

hi everybody my name is Alisha welcome

back to English class 101 comms YouTube
channel today I’m going to talk about

uncountable nouns I’m going to talk
about a few points related to

uncountable nouns and some words we can
use with uncountable nouns I’m going to

talk about the ways we can use units to
count parts of uncountable nouns and I’m

going to talk about some quantifiers and
some questions which we can use with

this grammar point so let’s get started
okay so the first point here about

uncountable nouns uncountable nouns are
nouns we cannot count so count a bowl

means able to count this prefix unn
means not the negative so not countable

nouns we cannot count we cannot use one
two or three to count numbers of these

nouns with uncountable nouns
we can use some determiner so

determiners are for example or an or the
this that my his and so on with

uncountable nouns we can use for example
this and that and we can use possessives

like my his her our and so on however we
cannot use a or an with uncountable

nouns this is because a and an are used
for the singular forms of nouns and we

don’t have a singular or plural form
necessarily for uncountable nouns so we

cannot use or an because these two
articles are used for singular forms so

please be careful of this some
determiners like this and that are fine

and possessives are okay but not a or an
okay also when you want to make a

general statement you should use no
determiner no determiner so know this

know that know the or whatever unless
you want to make a statement a general

statement about a specific group or a
specific object a specific mass entity

for example we’ll talk a little bit
about this later

so let’s take a look at some common
uncountable nouns then I’ve also

included here though their units so by
units I mean ways to count the parts of

these nouns so we cannot count these
nouns because they’re sort of they’re

thought of as like a mass they’re
thought of as kind of a group or yeah a

group or an assembly of many many
different parts so we don’t count the

the group itself the mass itself however
we can count the parts within that group

so let’s take a look at the first
example maybe the most important one

time so time is an uncountable noun we
don’t count one time two times or three

times we don’t do that however we count
parts of time measurements of time so

for example all of these are countable
nouns seconds minutes hours days weeks

months years decades millennia these are
all the countable nouns we use to count

the parts of time we cannot count time
we can count the parts of time only

let’s look at one more example money so
money we cannot count money one money to

money three money we don’t do that
instead we count the parts for example

cents dollars yen pounds euro pesos for
example we use the currency the type of

money and the denominations the pieces
or the parts within that that that

currency to count so we cannot count
money but we can count the the type of

money we can count currency amounts okay
another couple that are fairly common

are beer and wine so drinks for example
we don’t count beer necessarily as a

group we can say one beer to refer to
one drink of beer we can say that

however but in general for liquid when
you see a lot of liquid we don’t say one

beer to beer instead we counted by the
serving so for example with beer we use

glasses pints half pints mugs kegs
growlers these are a few ways that we

can
count beer these are all countable nouns

a similar rule applies to wine we don’t
say really one wine two wines we can use

that to mean one single drink but there
are sometimes different ways that we

need to explain one so we use these
words glasses or bottles or decanters so

we use decanter of wine bottle of wine
in these cases not one wine or two wines

make sure to say like bottle or decanter
to refer specifically to the type of

measurement you need another very common
example is clothes so clothes is kind of

a category of items it’s a type of item
there there are many different kinds of

clothes so we count for example shirts
sweaters socks shoes hats pairs of pants

we don’t say one clothes - clothes three
clothes instead we count these smaller

items inside the category of clothes ok
just a couple more examples food is

another very very big one so food itself
we don’t really say one food - food

three food instead we count inside food
for example snacks drinks salads

appetizers pizzas breadsticks cakes
whatever so the the food the dish itself

we couch the dish but not food as a
category finally air is another one we

don’t count air with numbers we can
count parts of air but if you want to

know we can use for example molecules to
talk about components pieces of air if

you like so these are just a few
examples of uncountable nouns and some

of the unit’s we can use to count the
parts within those uncountable nouns ok

next let’s head over to how to make a
few questions so similar to countable

nouns we can use uncountable nouns to
make information questions to make

requests to make offers but one key
point here is when you’re asking a

quantity question with an uncountable
noun you need to use much so when you’re

using a countable now and you should use
how many plus the plural form if you’re

using an
countable noun you need to use how much

plus your noun how much time how much
money how much beer for example there’s

no s to add at the end there’s no plural
form that we need to think about just

the uncountable noun and any other
information how much beer did you drink

how much time do you have for example so
please use much when you’re making a

question with an uncountable noun second
do you plus a verb any plus your

uncountable noun so we can change this
verb in the sentence depending on what

we need but this is a general
information question like do you need

any time or do you need any new clothes
for example so we just used the

uncountable noun here at the end of this
phrase to make an information question

another common pattern would be a
request so can I have some bla bla bla

can I have some wine can I have some
food of course you can use a unit here

if you like if you want to be specific
but if you want to be general mmm like

can I have some more time on this
project we can use an uncountable noun

in this sentence pattern as well of
course there are many different sentence

patterns but these are a few questions
that might be helpful for you ok let’s

look at the last thing for today
quantifiers quantifiers so we use

quantifiers to talk about amounts of
nouns in this case I’m going to talk

about some quantifiers we can use to
talk about the amounts of uncountable

nouns so we can use first at the end of
the spectrum here at around like zero

I’ve kind of made a scale here from zero
a like know of something there’s no

amount there’s zero of something to a
lot of something 100 at the other end

I’ve made kind of a scale of a few
quantifiers so here we can say no I have

no time we can use don’t plus a verb
plus any like I don’t have any time mmm

also is over here at the zero part we
can say I have almost no time meaning

very very little
for example so very little and almost no

would go about here here we can say not
much I have not in parentheses because

you just need to use the negative form I
don’t have much time or I don’t need

much to drink for example so we can use
much here but we need to use a negative

in this case we can also use hardly any
with uncountable nouns so I have hardly

any time to work on this project or I
have hardly any wine in my refrigerator

for example we can use a bit of I have a
bit of beer to drink a small amount so I

have a small amount of time this
afternoon if you’re free we have a

decent amount of so oh there’s a decent
amount of time this afternoon if that’s

better for you we can use some as well
some again is kind of vague it’s not so

clear the quantity with some but if you
just want to refer to having some have

it making it available you can use some
so like we might say I have some clothes

I want to throw away we can use lots of
and a lot of so I drank a lot of beer

last night or I drank a lot of wine last
night it might be a common sentence you

can hear we can use quite a lot of quite
a lot of so I have quite a lot of time

this weekend let’s do something we have
the casual tons of and a bunch of - so I

have tons of time or I have a bunch of
new clothes to try on for example and we

can also use all all so you could say
who drink all the beer or who ah let’s

see there’s another example mmm someone
took all my clothes for example we can

use all with uncountable nouns as well
so again these are just a few examples

of some expressions you might hear with
uncountable nouns you’ll see - as with

countable nouns we can use some of these
as I’ve marked with the green star here

some of these are okay to use with
countable nouns and uncountable

double nouns so if you get stuck you can
try to remember which ones are are okay

for both countable and uncountable nouns
for example lots of and a lot of some is

good almost no is pretty handy pretty
useful as well another point here I want

to mention this is a problem that many
students have is using much in positive

statements of quantity for example I
have much money I have much time we

cannot use much in this way we should
use I have a lot of time I have quite a

lot of time much is used with negatives
so I don’t have much time for example I

don’t have much money we can only use
much for a quantity statement with a

negative form so please don’t use much
to make a positive statement about

quantity please be careful this is a
very common mistake all right but those

are a few points I wanted to make about
uncountable nouns today if you have any

questions or comments or you want to try
making an example sentence please feel

free to do so in the comment section
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