Thursday, June 2, 2011

Uncountable?










Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot "count" them. For example, we cannot count "milk". We can count "bottles of milk" or "litres of milk", but we cannot count "milk" itself. Here are some more uncountable nouns:
•music, art, love, happiness
•advice, information, news
•furniture, luggage
•rice, sugar, butter, water
•electricity, gas, power
•money, currency

We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb. For example:
•This news is very important.
•Your luggage looks heavy.

We do not usually use the indefinite article a/an with uncountable nouns. We cannot say "an information" or "a music". But we can say a something of:
•a piece of news
•a bottle of water
•a grain of rice

We can use some and any with uncountable nouns:
•I've got some money.
•Have you got any rice?

We can use a little and much with uncountable nouns:
•I've got a little money.
•I haven't got much rice.

Uncountable nouns are also called "mass nouns".

Here are some more examples of countable and uncountable nouns:

Countable
dollar
song
suitcase
table
battery
bottle
report
tip

Uncountable
money
music
luggage
furniture
electricity
wine
information
advice
journey
travel

When you learn a new word, it's a good idea to learn whether it's countable or uncountable.

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