Uncountable English Nouns to Count Drinks Basic English Grammar
hi everybody my name is Alisha today I’m
going to talk about some counter words
that we can use for explaining drinks so
if you’ve seen some of the other videos
we’ve done in this whiteboard series you
may have seen some information about
countable and uncountable nouns so
uncountable nouns are nouns that we
cannot count with simply 1 2 or 3 in
front of the noun instead we have to use
what are called counter words to explain
the quantity so these are some words
that we can use to talk about drinks
specifically before we begin though I
want to mention that the an easy hint
for counting drinks is to remember that
we often count drinks according to the
item the container they are sold in or
the container they are served in so this
can help make it really really easy to
choose your counter word when you’re
thinking about drinks also you’ll notice
that each one of these counter words is
followed by the word of so for example
mug of something will be our first one
so remember to use your number before
the counter word next comes the counter
word then of and finally your now the
item you’re counting so let’s take a
look at a few ways that we can count
liquids and drinks okay so as I said
let’s begin the first word is mug mug so
mug has this sort of image we use a mug
primarily for coffee and tea so
something that we typically have hot
drinks in is a mug a mug of coffee a mug
of tea we use mug for items that have
this shape it’s kind of a tall shape
usually a bit thick and it has this
handle perhaps there are different
shapes of mug but they generally they
can hold heat quite well a mug of coffee
a mug of tea the next one is glass so a
glass of water a glass of juice a glass
of wine these are just simple simple
glasses as you can see the word glasses
here but the container it doesn’t have
to be
made of glass it’s just a glass is the
word that we use to talk about the
serving size keep in mind a glass of
wine means one serving of wine only so
you might have a special wine glass to
drink a glass of wine from so wine in
this case is referring only to a single
serving so please be careful there so
glass is another word we can use for one
serving of something the next word is
bottle so we can say a bottle of beer
like a it’s it’s made of glass yes but
we use bottle to describe it a bottle of
beer a bottle of wine a bottle of water
a bottle of tea a bottle of Cola or soda
any drink which is sold in a bottle
shape a bottle container we can use
bottle for please remember however that
bottle of wine and glass of wine are
quite different a glass of wine is a
single serving of wine a bottle of wine
is a large large quantity a large amount
of wine so a bottle of wine has many
servings a glass of wine is one serving
in theory okay next is can-can so we can
have a can of coffee a can of tea a can
of soda a can of cola a can of beer by
the way the difference between soda and
cola it really depends on the place
you’re in depending on the place in the
US or the place in any other
english-speaking country really there
might be a preferred way of saying Cola
or soda or even pop so just keep in mind
that many people use different words to
mean the same thing it depends on region
so soda and cola this is an example of
this so we use can if it is sold in a
can we can use can to describe it so any
of these items or maybe there’s a
different item in your country sold in a
can but we can use can of to talk about
these nouns next one is Cup Cup so we
usually use cup with coffee and tea so
this is a little bit different from mug
so a cup maybe look something like this
a mug maybe look something a little bit
more like this they’re very very similar
mug kind of has the image of something
warm something a bit thick and heavy cup
has sort of a feeling of a little bit
lighter maybe it doesn’t have to be hot
mug kind of you imagine that it’s going
to be a warm drink or a hot drink cup
not necessarily so so we can use cup for
tea or coffee as well okay let’s go to
the next group
next is drop the word drop we can use
drop to count liquid but just a little
bit of something so for example we use
drop to count rain so rain drops drops
of rain we could use it for water like
drops of water on my iPhone screen or
something we could say drops of wine got
on my sweater for example so drops means
a few pieces of water but we cannot use
pieces for a liquid instead we use a
drop so please use drop to refer to the
small parts of liquid drops of something
drops of liquid okay next one is sip sip
is interesting
sip refers to a small taste of liquid so
if you want to try a drink you can say
for example can I have a sip of tea can
I have a sip of your wine means just a
small taste a small taste of something
is a sip a sip of something so we can
use a sip of water like I need a sip of
water or can I have a sip of tea or she
took a big sip of beer we could say a
big sip if we want to kind of make an
interesting phrase so a sip yes but a
big one maybe sounds like a mouthful
instead of just a small quantity so
usually sip means just a small quantity
okay next one is carton carton so I’ve
used milk here as the primary example
but anything sold in this sort of
cardboard shape that we have to open and
pour from we can use the word carton to
describe so a carton of milk in your
country or in your city there might be a
different item that is sold in cartons
you can use carton to talk about that to
count it one carton of milk two cartons
of
another one that drinks are commonly
sold in is jug jug so we can say a jug
of milk sorry a jug of milk a jug of
juice the difference between a carton
and a jug is that a jug is usually made
of plastic and it has a handle on the
side so a jug of something is different
from a carton a carton is usually made
of cardboard or some kind of paper
material and it does not have a handle
on it okay finally is keg keg keg is
something typically we do not buy
ourselves in stores but we can see at
bars or restaurants maybe so a keg is
used to count beer keg is used to count
beer it’s as very large often very large
though sometimes there may be smaller
kegs there are these storage containers
for fresh beer so you might see beer
being served from a tap the tap is
connected to a keg so we can say one keg
or two kegs of beer or let’s preserve a
keg of beer for our party next weekend
so this is a word we typically use only
for beer okay so those are a few counter
words that are commonly used to talk
about drinks and maybe other liquids too
if you have any questions or comments or
if there’s another counter words you
know please feel free to let us know in
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if you haven’t already thanks very much
for watching this episode and I will see
you again soon
you