Countable and Uncountable Nouns

*the, a, an*	Plurals
Types of Uncountable Nouns	Noun Practice
Back to Nouns	Back to Exercises

Countable nouns refer to things that that can be counted. They are usually tangible things, things that can be perceived by one of our senses (taste, touch, sight, hearing, smell). These nouns can be either singular or plural.

Concrete nouns can be countable.

Flowers, oranges, trees, houses, bricks, cars, men, women, cats, birds

Joseph slipped on a banana peel.	How many banana peels did Joseph slip on? Just one.
Cody ate a piece of cake.	Pieces of cake can be counted.
Paul saw an anteater at the zoo.	Anteaters can be counted.

Collective nouns can be countable or uncountable, depending on the meaning of the sentence.

Collective nouns refer to a group (army, committee, group, government, etc.) Americans tend to use collective nouns as singular nouns:

The crowd is cheering.

The navy was commissioning three new cruisers last week.

The group has elected Rodney to be chairman.

Some proper nouns are countable.

There are more Irish in New York than in Eire. (Irish people...How many Irish people are in...)

The Rockefellers produced several statesmen.

An uncountable noun refers to something that can't be counted, because it's thought of as a whole that can’t be cut into parts. They are often abstract, and occasionally have a collective meaning. (for example, food; Is the food ready now?) These nouns take only the singular form.

Correct: 1) I want to eat the food you made yesterday. Is it still good? 2) Yes, some of it is still good.

Correct: I gave the dog three pieces of food, but he only ate two.

Correct: I don't enjoy food when it's served cold. I like hot food to be served hot, and cold food to be served cold.

Incorrect: Don't give him an old food. Only give the dog a fresh food.

Jasper jumped into the air.	How many airs did he jump into? The question doesn’t make any sense because air can't be counted.
Myra enjoyed the warm weather.	How many weathers? Weather cannot be counted.
Diana didn't like the music the band played at the concert.	How many musics? Music cannot be counted. Use the word songs when you want to count how much music you have.)

There are exceptions to the above definitions. (Be aware that a countable noun in a different language may not be countable in English, and vice versa.

Exceptions: Meanings can change, according to how the word is used. This is just a sampling:

Countable—concrete and specific		Uncountable—abstract; general statement of fact
The lectures were scheduled once a week during the summer. We went to hear all eight lectures.	lecture	He hates lectures.
Kids can make a lot of different noises. (different kinds of sounds)	noise	Kids can make a lot of noise. (Kids, generally, make noise, and a lot of it!)
For Sale: House with 6 rooms and a barn	room	There wasn’t any room for me on the plane. (room, meaning space)
We had three great meals at the hotel.	meal	It’s not healthy to skip meals.
The Mona Lisa is a famous work by DaVinci. There are three other Da Vinci works in the museum.	work	All the work he does is done very carefully.

An easy way to identify uncountable nouns is by category. This is only a partial list.

Things made up of small pieces

cereal	sand	rice	sugar
corn	rye	popcorn	salt
lettuce	hair	flour	oats
dust	spinach	garlic	powder

Wholes composed of individual parts

These nouns represent collections made up of similar individual parts, which are usually countable nouns. Many of these collective nouns have more than one kind of individual component.

Collection	Sample Components
mail	package, letter
vegetable	carrot, tomato
clothing	slacks, shoes
food	cookie, cracker
fruit	pineapple, banana
furniture	bed, chair
garbage	egg shell, tin can
jewelry	ring, bracelet
machinery	flywheel, cog

Note: Sometimes an uncountable noun can be understood as an individual item that's distinct from other items of the same category. These nouns are often foods and beverages: pastry /pastries, drink/drinks, wine/wines, bread/breads, cheese/cheeses, tea/teas, etc.

Men seem to like Limburger cheese more than other kinds. (kinds of cheese)
Marlene drinks Indian tea, not Chinese tea. (kinds of tea)
Some people prefer Danish pastry to French pastry. (kinds of pastry)

Fields of study and professional fields

physics	geography	geology	music
advertising	medicine	grammar	mechanics
biology	economics	history	accounting
sociology	law	mathematics	linguistics

Abstract ideas

strength	equality	sadness	love	selfishness
anger	happiness	knowledge	patriotism	slang
wonder	hatred	laughter	peace	trouble
courage	health	laziness	permission	wealth
crime	help	leisure	relaxation	wisdom

Liquids

oil	water	milk	gasoline
syrup	coffee	vodka	juice
tea	soda	molasses	saliva

Gases

helium	methane
air	oxygen
ether	ozone
carbon monoxide	hydrogen

Solids, minerals, and elements

Countable and uncountable nouns that refer to a generalized mass

lava	chicken	cotton	iron	wood
pork	wool	fire	lamb	plastic
beef	cloth	glass	lead	silver
ice	coal	gold	meat	soap
bread	concrete	cheese	ice	steel

Sports and Recreational Activities

archery	bridge	jogging	swimming
aerobics	checkers	Monopoly	tag
badminton	chess	Scrabble	tennis
baseball	football	soccer	water polo
bowling	hockey	surfing	volleyball

Natural Phenomena

snow	cold	darkness	dew	fog	frost	gravity	hail
humidity	light	lightning	mist	rain	sleet	heat	thunder

Medical Conditions

An article does not precede terms for general medical conditions. When referring to specific instances of a medical condition or disease, some uncountable nouns use the; others do not use any article.

General statement: Measles is a childhood disease.

Specific statement: He has the German measles.

arthritis	hiccups	cancer	polio	tuberculosis
AIDS	flu	measles	smallpox	lupus

Scientific processes and procedures

anesthesia	electroshock
fission	fusion
sonar	radar
dissection	dialysis

Articles

Notice that this, that, these, and those have been included because like the word the, they mark a definite noun rather than a general one.

a, an	the	this, that	these, those	no article
Countable singular	Countable singular	Countable singular
	Countable plural		Countable plural	Countable plural
	Uncountable			Uncountable

Countable Singular:

She peeled the orange.
He drove the car.
Did they see this movie?

Countable Plural:

I love to watch the squirrels play.
Does Patricia want these videos?
I think she prefers those videos that are on the next shelf.
Dogs are faithful to their owners. (no article)

Uncountable:

The heat is awful today.
Thunder scares me. (no article)

Plurals: Although uncountable nouns do not usually take a plural form, they can when used in a countable sense.

·most countable nouns can be made plural adding s, or ies (study, studies)
uncountable nouns can't be made plural at all
nouns used in a countable sense can be made plural
nouns used in an uncountable sense can't have a plural form.

No Plural	Plural
uncountable noun	countable noun
uncountable Use	countable use

Uncountable (general) Use	Countable (specific) Use
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.	I have heard about the beauties of the French countryside.
He likes to eat cake.	He brought four double-fudge chocolate cakes to the party.
She has gorgeous hair.	The detective found several blond hairs on the body of the victim.
Anthropology is the study of man.	Those men standing at the coffee machine were my teachers last year at school.