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