Countable And Uncountable Nouns
A countable noun is the name of people or things that can be counted. They have singular and plural forms. Example are:
- boy – boys
- child – children
- book – books
- mother – mothers
- school – schools
An uncountable noun is the name of a material, liquid or abstract quality that cannot be counted. An uncountable noun has only one form and it is usually considered singular. Examples are: water, air, rice, milk, wheat, beauty, music, luck, money etc.
Most uncountable nouns take singular verbs.
- Money is essential to buy things.
- Music brings people together.
- Water is essential for life.
- Air occupies space.
We cannot use numbers or the articles a/an with uncountable nouns. For example, we cannot say two wheats or a music.
Singular countable nouns, on the other hand, always take an article with them.
- Rani is an interior designer. (NOT Rani is interior designer.)
- I ate a mango. (NOT I ate mango.)
We can use the determiners some and any with plural countable nouns.
- I have bought some mangoes.
- She doesn’t have any children.
- Did you buy any apples?
- Have we got any eggs?
Some and any can also be used with uncountable nouns.
- I need some advice.
- We haven’t got any money.
- I drank some juice.
- Do we have any milk left?
Worksheet
Fill in the blanks with the singular or plural form of the noun given in the brackets.
- Each hand has five ………………. (finger)
- There is a ……………….. in my soup. (fly)
- ………………… spread diseases. (Fly)
- Did you take any ……………………? (photo)
- Did you buy any ………………? (rice)
- We didn’t do any ………………….. yesterday. (work)
- She wants to find a ………………….. (job)
- We do not have any ………………….. at the moment. (vacancy)
- Fresh ……………….. accelerates growth. (air)
- I drank some …………………. (coffee)
- Do you know any foreign …………….? (language)
- This house doesn’t have much ………………. (space)
Answers
- fingers, 2. fly, 3. flies, 4. photos, 5. rice, 6. work, 7. job, 8. vacancies, 9. air, 10. coffee, 11. languages, 12. space
See also
