Uncountable Nouns
Hi everyone, lets discuss "Uncountable Nouns". What are they? Do you find yourself using them commonly in conversations you have with your peers? How many can you name?
11 answers from our tutors
Best answer
When dealing with countable and uncountable nouns we talk about food (lower level students): that ones that cannot be counted with numbers are uncountable. Students at a higher level of English study additional uncountable nouns: the so called abstract nouns: love, hate, information etc.
Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts etc. that we cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot "count" them. I use uncountable nouns when trying to explain the difference between countable nouns and uncountable nouns. A few examples of uncountable nouns are the following, Tea, Water, Air, Knowledge, Sugar.
Great input from all of you. It is really interesting to hear your point of views and to have this interesting discussion.
Check your English level for free
Take our quick and free test to find out your current level of English
Start test
continuation of committing mistakes in the use of " A" or "AN" as non-native speaker. It is a common mistake for us simply because we don't practice the language continuously. Also, identifying nouns as countable or uncountable can be tricky, as they can be both. For example, chicken, if you refer to food itself, is uncountable; however, if you refer chicken as animal, it is countable. With the food, you don't use "A". If it's an animal, then you can use A if it's singular. So, the use of dictionary is really helpful in this case. There are many uncountable nouns; for sure, you will encounter them in your daily conversations.
Uncountable nouns, from the word, means nouns that cannot be counted or separated. They usually refer to food such as cheese, sugar coffee, etc., materials like oil and plastic, and concept and ideas like bravery, knowledge, beauty, etc. The rules for uncountable nouns are quite simple. That is, you use a singular verb on this type of noun because it is considered singular. If you want to express it in other ways other than being singular, use a quantifier such as little, any, much, some, etc. Another way to make it plural is to measure it like two cups of water. Generally, you don't use the articles "A or "AN with uncountable nouns; however, there are special cases where it is allowed, such as tea or coffee. You can say" Can I have two teas, please?" because it was referring to two cups of tea. The use of the articles "A" and "AN" is one of the most common mistakes we commit as non-native speakers.
Uncountable nouns sound weird when you add a number before it, and often it is just too much to count or difficult to put a amount to it. For example. Water, sugar, sand, people, etc. You cannot say, there is a thousand water in the ocean, simply say, there is much water in the sea.
Love, joy are examples of such nouns, and yes , we tell our spouses our kids , friends on a regular basis , Love you, I love you, and having spoken to you has filled me with so much joy.
Nouns that are not countable, examples being sand, soil, sugar etc
uncountable nouns are nouns that cannot be counted. things like water. thats were we use words like much, alot e,t,c,
The nouns which cannot be count with the help of numbers but we use scales to count them, are called uncountable numbers. For Exp: Two liter petrol, Five KG milk etc.
Nouns that cannot be counted for example knowledge, love, care, and if talk about substances then milk, water and oil etc.
Other student questions
- Are you looking to learn English? I, an English speaker would be happy to help.I speak 4 languages
- How can we run a successful business English meeting with our foreign clients?
What strategies can we implement to ensure our Business English meetings with foreign clients are engaging and effective?
- Can you share your experience how you teach students conditionals?
What kind of method do you use to explain clearly each conditional for students? Do you provide some examples from real life and how you do it? Thank you!
Best answer
The first thing to do when teaching conditionals would be to explain what conditionals are, then provide them with examples, then play a game where they need to identify the conditional, and finally have them create their own to see if they understood it
