A bit about countable and uncountable nouns.
In English, they are called Countable - ['kauntəbl] (countable) and Uncountable - [ʌn'kauntəbl] (uncountable) Nouns.
What are countable and uncountable nouns in English, I think everyone knows. In other words, what can be counted and what cannot be counted.
Usually not considered:
1) materials - (Wood, Silver, Gold)
2) liquids - (Water, Wine, Juice),
3) languages - (Spanish, English, German)
4) subjects of study - (Economics, Physics),
5) games - (Chess, Golf, Basketball),
6) diseases - (Herpes, Flu),
7) abstract nouns - (see below)
8) natural phenomena - (Rain, Snow, Humidity)
Used with them Much.
Much snow - a lot of snow.
In fact, you can imagine that somewhere there is a big pile ... of wood, sap, rain, german, information, business, shopping ... from which you chip off something interesting and countable for yourself. For example, from shopping dresses that you can count, and from business - ideas)
List of exemplary abstract nouns: advice (advice), anger (anger), applause (applause), assistance (help), behavior (behavior), business (business, business), seaside (seaside resort, by the sea),chaos (Chaos), countryside (In the village), courage (courage, courage), damage (damage), dirt (dirt), education (education), accommodation (room), evidence (testimony), housework (housework), homework (D / Z), information (information), intelligence (intelligence), knowledge (Knowledge), luck (luck), music (music), news (news), peace (peace), progress (progress), shopping (Shopping ), traffic( traffic), trouble (trouble), truth (truth), wealth (wealth), work (work), beauty (beauty), charity (charity), capitalism (capitalism), democracy (democracy), eternity (eternity),individualism, faith (faith), infinity (infinity), liberty (freedom), misery (suffering), motivation (motivation), observation (observation), poverty (poverty), privacy (personal space), slavery (slavery), space ( place, space), stability (stability), unemployment (unemployment), violence (violence), wisdom (wisdom)
Uncountable nouns have the form of the 3rd person singular - conventionally denoted (IS)
Your luggage looks heavy. Your luggage looks heavy.
This news is very important. This news is very important.
It will not be superfluous to remember that News IS
Money IS
hair IS,
Because it is in these words that they make mistakes, since in Russian they sound like
NEWS/HAIR/MONEY.
Uncountable nouns are not preceded by the article “a”, only “the”, when we need to clarify the definiteness. For example Give me the money - Give me money (that same money).
For what we cannot count, we use words and expressions how much/much,a little/little,a lot of.
We cannot say an information, but we can say little informationc (little information / a little information (a little information) or much / a lot of informationc (a lot of information) or the information (the same information)
* Little here does not mean "small", but in the meaning of "a little".
To turn uncountable nouns into countable ones, you need to add the preposition of and, for example, get a glass or a cup of water from water, and a piece of information from information)
a piece of news - news.
a bottle of water - a bottle of water
a grain of rice - a grain of rice
These words are called a kind - “Measured words” (Measure words), there are a lot of them, but mostly food measurements are remembered.
a cup of tea. A cup of tea.
a slice of meat. A piece of meat.
MANY CUPS OF TEA.
Or, you can imagine that "Money" are counted on "Rubles", "Music" has "Songs", and "Furniture"(Furniture) is calculated by tables-"Tables."(For example)
And, of course, with uncountables, we can use some (+ ) in affirmative sentences and any(?- ) in interrogative and negative sentences.
For example: We haven`t got any milk . We don't have milk at all.
Have you got any cheese? Do you have cheese?
Yes, I've got some cheese in the fridge. Yes, there is some cheese in the fridge.
* We can use Some in questions in the sense of a POLITE OFFER.
For example: Can I have some milk?
With countable nouns, things are much simpler.
1) easy to count - A Cup - Cups
A doctor-doctors
A lemon-lemons
I like oranges - I love oranges.
Bottles can break. Bottles may break.
2) Also used with some and any .
I would like some berries. I would like some berries
I wouldn`t like any berrie s. I would like any berries.
Have you got any berries? Do you have any berries?
Can I have some berries? Can I have some berries?
3) C With countables, we can use expressions such as few - (little), a few (a little), many
(a lot of), lots of (many)
For example:
There are few people in the street. There are few people on the street.
There are a few people in the street. There are few people on the street.
There are lots of pizzas on the table. There are many pizzas (large and different) on the table.
You speak correctly =).
Have a great day
When it comes to such a part of speech as nouns, one of the greatest difficulties in the learning process is given to students by countable and uncountable nouns in English. Here you need to navigate in different cases of use and know a rather extensive list of such words and exceptions. However, here you can also find certain patterns, and for this it is necessary to consider the topic of countable and uncountable nouns in the English language in more detail.
Main features of countable and uncountable nouns
These linguistic elements, which are called countable or uncountable nouns, are characterized by the fact that, depending on belonging to a particular group, they can be used both in both numbers (singular and plural), and only in the singular. Those nouns that can be counted, that is, form a plural form, are called countable nouns. Uncountable - those that do not have plural forms and are used exclusively in the singular.
The rules for the use of these language structures largely imply a division into countable nouns - uncountable nouns from the point of view of the semantics of the noun itself, that is, the group to which this or that belongs. In this regard, it is possible to give an appropriate classification and determine in which groups the differences between countable and uncountable nouns are most obvious.
Main categories of countable nouns
For countable nouns, the translation allows the formation of the plural. This group includes two main categories:
1. Specific nouns
These parts of speech demonstrate familiar objects that surround people. They can be easily counted, they are tangible and completely real. Examples of such words are lamp, window, dog, bottle, pen, etc. Each noun in this group can be pluralized and used in the appropriate context.
2. Abstract nouns
Despite the fact that very often nouns from this category are uncountable nouns, it is not uncommon for these words to be used in the plural. Here are some prime examples of such words:
idea (from the point of view of logic, the essence of this concept is abstract; at the same time, the word ideas is used quite often in the language)
hour (the word "hour" is also intangible, but has a plural), etc.
One of the main indicators that a noun is countable is the article. General grammatical rules provide that any countable noun in the singular must be with the article, with the exception of some special cases related directly to the topic of the article. At the same time, plurals of countable (their plural forms) are not always used with the article.
Categories of uncountable nouns
An uncountable word differs from a countable word in that it does not have the ability to form a plural. Innumerable words in English are quite often similar in principle to Russian ones. At the same time, there are situations when a noun can be both countable and uncountable at the same time, depending on different meanings. Examples of these words:
hair (“hair) - a hair (“one hair”)
beauty ("beauty") - a beauty ("beauty")
paper ("paper") - a paper ("document")
time ("time") - a time ("once")
room ("space") - a room ("room")
light ("light") - a light ("lamp"), etc.
Just like countable nouns, uncountable nouns are characteristic of two categories:
1. Abstract
In this group, of course, words are rarely counted (some exceptional cases have been described above). This category includes concepts or phenomena that are not tangible and have an abstract meaning: sadness, kindness, love, despair, experience, etc.
2. Real
In English they are called nouns of material. This includes natural elements, substances and materials: cream, bread, soup, butter, milk, meat, etc.
However, sometimes it becomes necessary to form plural forms with uncountable nouns. For this, it is customary to use additional words, for example:
Cheese ("cheese") - two slices of cheese ("two slices of cheese")
biscuit ("biscuit, cookies") - three pieces of biscuit ("three pieces of biscuit")
chocolate ("chocolate") - two bars of chocolate ("two bars of chocolate")
Articles with uncountable nouns when the context requires it: if the word is mentioned with a qualifying definition (the love that he feels - “the love that he feels”), the use of a definite article is quite acceptable.
In addition, there are some unusual exception words. These include fruit and fish. Despite the fact that they can be pluralized, this is not always done. When it comes to fruits or fish without enumeration, the form of the number will remain the only one (this does not apply to the word vegetables - "vegetables"). For example:
Most fruit are tasty - Most fruits are tasty
They have a lot of fish - They have a lot of fish
There are many special cases: there are exceptions in the formation of plural forms (child - children - "child - children"), in the use of the plural with food and dishes (cake - cakes - "cake - cakes", salad - salads - "salad - salads" , sweet - sweets - "candy - sweets"). In some cases, it is allowed to use the word some with such nouns to emphasize a certain amount (some chicken - “a little chicken”, some grapes - “a little grapes”). For example, people as a count means "people" and can be used with the ending -s. There are quite a lot of such cases, and they should be known in order to navigate the features of the language.
Common uncountable nouns
Below is a kind of table with examples of uncountable nouns that are quite common in English:
money - money
advice - advice
clothes - clothes
food - food
furniture - furniture
information - information
news - news
luggage - luggage
meal - meal
watch - watch
homework - homework
knowledge - knowledge
weather - weather
All of the above nuances and exceptions are extremely important, because, as can be seen from the examples presented, they are very actively used in the language and are quite standard structures in terms of meaning. The correct use of even such, even at first glance, not too complicated part of speech, like a noun, requires quite serious preparation. The easiest way is to carefully study all atypical use cases in order to appropriately apply the appropriate constructions in speech.
Countable nouns - those nouns that can be counted piece by piece (two cups, three books, a thousand people). Uncountable nouns can have both singular and plural. one cup - one cup, five cups - five cups.
Uncountable- nouns that cannot be counted (water, love, money). That is, these are those nouns that cannot be preceded by a number indicating their number. For example, you cannot say: five loves, eight waters, ten money. The most common uncountable nouns are abstract concepts, bulk substances and liquids. Uncountable nouns have only the singular form, even if they are translated into Russian in the plural. For example: money - money, hair - hair.
Rules for the use of phrases with countable and uncountable nouns
| countable nouns |
Not countable nouns |
| Many
- a lot of |
Much
- a lot of |
|
Much and many are translated as "a lot", but much is only used with uncountable nouns, and many is only used with countable nouns.. Much and many can be used only in interrogative and negative sentences. For affirmative sentences, "a lot of" is used.
The question "how much? how much?" in English is given in different ways: for uncountable - how much? for countable - how many? (It is impossible to say how a lot of?) |
|
|
A lot of - a lot of In affirmative sentences, to say "a lot" the phrase " a lot of" (lots of). It is used with both countable and uncountable nouns. It can also be used in interrogative and negative sentences instead of the words much and many.
|
|
|
a few - a little I have a few books - I have a few books (a few books) |
a little - a little I have a little time - I have a little time |
|
few - few I have few books - I have few books |
little - few I have little time - I have little time |
» Countable and uncountable nouns in English
Can everything be counted? Is it possible to count the stars in the Universe or the water in the seas and oceans? And if the stars of the hotel and water in a glass - is it possible to count these objects? What am I talking about - we're talking about English. The fact is that in English, the ability or impossibility to count some objects, as it turns out, affects grammar. A noun in English can be either countable or uncountable (countable and uncountable).
How to define countability? Count!
To determine whether a noun is countable or not, you need to do a simple thing - try to count. In most cases, this will solve the problems at once: two bottles, three friends, four cucumbers. And if it turns out some kind of nonsense, then the noun is uncountable.
It would seem that the issue can be closed. Not really. The first problem that you may encounter here is to carefully look at what exactly you think, do not fall into a logical trap.
For example: is vodka countable? Ha, you say, but what about: vodka can be 0.5, maybe 150 - why not calculations. But no, in this case we count liters and milliliters (or grams - as someone is used to), and “one vodka, two vodkas” sounds strange. It turns out that vodka is an uncountable noun, (and a liter is a countable one).
Hello dear readers! Today I have prepared a very sensitive topic for you. After studying the material, you will get acquainted with the main groups of uncountable nouns, learn how to indicate the number of uncountable nouns in English, and also find out in which cases an uncountable noun can be used as a countable noun. The topic is not as simple as you might think. The fact is that when translating an uncountable noun from Russian into English, one can easily make a mistake. Very often, a noun that is countable in Russian is uncountable in English, and vice versa. Because of this, confusion arises. As you can see, this topic needs to be treated with special attention.
You could already familiarize yourself with countable nouns in the article: Plural of nouns in English. Let me remind you that countable nouns in English denote objects and concepts that can be counted. They can be either singular or plural. You could also familiarize yourself with the rules for the formation of the plural in the article “Plural of nouns in English”. Let's go directly to the study of uncountable nouns in English.
Uncountable nouns in English
Uncountable nouns are nouns denoting substances and concepts that cannot be counted. These include both material (liquid, gaseous, solid materials) and abstract nouns (natural phenomena, actions, feelings, etc.). But in English, unlike Russian, many nouns can be used both as countable and uncountable.
So, uncountable nouns are used only in the singular and, accordingly, agree with the verbs in the singular. Remember that in English they are not used with the indefinite article. a or an. If it is necessary to distinguish an uncountable noun from the general category of substances or concepts, the definite article is used. the.
In the role of the subject, they agree with the predicate in the singular. Can be replaced by pronouns in the singular. In most cases, this pronoun it.
Classification of uncountable nouns
There are a lot of uncountable nouns in the English language, and in order to better remember them, you can classify them into groups. We have compiled a list of commonly used uncountable nouns in colloquial speech.
- Natural phenomena: darkness - darkness, snow - snow, fog - fog, gravity - gravity, heat - heat, humidity - dampness, light - daylight, hail - hail, lighting - lightning, rain - rain, thunder - thunder, sunshine - sunlight, weather - weather, wind - wind, etc.
- Liquids: petrol - gasoline, oil - vegetable oil / oil, coffee - coffee, water - water, tea - tea, lemonade - lemonade, milk - milk, wine - wine, blood - blood, etc.
- Gaseous substances: nitrogen - nitrogen, oxygen - oxygen, air - air, steam - steam, smoke - smoke, smog - thick fog, etc.
- Food: bread - bread, cheese - cheese, butter - butter, meat - meat, spaghetti - spaghetti, yoghurt - yogurt, etc.
- Languages: Russian - Russian, Greek - Greek, German - German, English - English, Arabic - Arabic, Chinese - Chinese, Spanish - Spanish, etc.
- Substances made up of many small particles: semolina - semolina, rice - rice, flour - flour, corn - corn, dust - dust, salt - salt, sugar - sugar, pepper - pepper, sand - sand, etc.
- Diseases: Cancer - cancer, Flu - influenza, Measles - measles, Mumps - mumps, Smallpox - chickenpox, Pneumonia - pneumonia, etc.
- Abstract concepts: space - space, energy - energy, advice - advice, beauty - beauty, time - time, education - education, wealth - wealth, happiness - happiness, honesty - honesty, health - health, help - help, laughter - laughter, intelligence - intelligence, knowledge - knowledge, justice - justice, truth - truth, information - information, news - news, homework - d / s, work - work, grammar - grammar, vocabulary - vocabulary, etc.
- Names of disciplines: chemistry - chemistry, mathematics - mathematics, history - history, psychology - psychology, literature - literature, etc.
- Natural resources, building materials, metals: gold - gold, silver - silver, wood - wood, glass - glass, oil - oil, clay - clay, concrete - concrete, paper - paper, etc.
- Games: baseball - baseball, poker - poker, billiards - billiards, chess - chess, golf - golf, rugby - rugby, football - football, soccer - football, tennis - tennis, etc.
- Actions (gerund): driving - driving, walking - walking, studying - studying, drawing - drawing, rock climbing - climbing, swimming - swimming, etc.
Notation for the number of uncountable nouns
If you need to specify the amount denoted by an uncountable noun, use the following nouns:
- a piece - a piece (a piece of paper - a sheet of paper, a piece of news - news, a piece of advice - advice, a piece of information - information, a piece of furniture - a piece of furniture)
- a glass - a glass (a glass of wine - a glass of wine)
- and bottle is a bottle (a bottle of cognac is a bottle of cognac)
- a jar - jar (a jar of honey - jar of honey)
- a rasher - a slice (a rasher of bacon - a thin slice of bacon)
- a packet - a package (a packet of rice - a package of rice)
- a loaf - a loaf (a loaf of bread - a loaf of bread)
- and slice is a piece (and slice of bread is a piece of bread)
- a pot - a pot, a jar (a pot of yoghurt is a jar of yogurt, a pot of tea is a kettle of tea)
- a cup - a cup (and cup of tea - a cup of tea)
- a kilo - kilogram (a kilo of meat - kilogram of meat)
- and tube is a tube (and tube of tooth paste is a tube of toothpaste)
- a bar - a piece, a tile (a bar of chocolate - a bar of chocolate, a bar of soap - a bar of soap)
- a can - tin can (a can of lemonade - a jar of lemonade)
- a carton - packaging (a carton of milk - milk packaging)
- a bowl - bowl (a bowl of soup - bowl / bowl of soup)
An example of uncountable nouns in English Also, to indicate a large or small amount, denoted by an uncountable noun, use the following pronouns:
- much - a lot (much time - a lot of time)
- a lot of - a lot (a lot of chees - a lot of cheese)
- little - little, little (little oil - little oil)
- some - a certain amount (to buy some tea - buy tea)
- any - some, some (to eat any spaghetti - eat some spaghetti)
Transition of nouns from uncountable to countable
1. In English, if a material noun is used to refer to an object from a given material, an uncountable noun becomes a countable noun and is used with articles a and an. (If the whole and its elements are denoted the same.)
- hair hair − a hair
- wood tree, wood − a wood forest
- paper paper − a paper
- coal − a coal
- iron iron − an iron
2. In English, if a material noun is used to refer to varieties, kinds or portions of something, the uncountable noun becomes a countable noun and is used with articles a and an.
- He bought some tea. He bought tea. — He bought Indian tea. He bought one of the Indian teas.
- I like coffee. I love coffee. − He bought a coffee. He bought (a cup of) coffee.
3. In English, if an abstract noun is used to refer to a specific object or person, i.e., to specify, an uncountable noun becomes a countable noun and is used with articles a and an.
- beauty beauty − a beauty beauty
- light light − a light light, lamp
- life life − a life way of life
- time time − a time times
- play play − a play play
4. In English, if the ending is added to an uncountable noun -s, -es, it becomes countable and is used with articles a and an.
