Count and Non-Count Nouns 

It is important to know the difference between a count and non-count noun.  This tells us if we need a/an, singular/plural, much/many, a little/a few, etc.

 Count nouns can be counted.  

a table, 2 tables	a car, 3 cars	1 person, 5 people
1 cat, 3 cats	1 computer, 2 computers	1 child, 2 children

 Non-count nouns can't be counted. 

sugar	water	happiness
luck	cheese	love

 There are some irregularities.  For example, "bean" is count, but "corn" is non-count.  In addition, some words like "fruit" or "paper" can be both count and non-count.  Why?  Because English is crazy.  Today we won't work with irregularities.

 Sometimes it's easy to know if a word is count or non-count.  For example, we know that "table" and "car" are count nouns because we can count them.  We know that "water" and "love" are non-count because they can't be counted. 

 Another thing to remember is groups of items are non-count:         

Non-Count

Count

jewelry	ring, bracelet, earring
furniture	chair, table, bed
equipment	computer, mouse, printer
clothing	shirt, sweater, coat
money	dollar, quarter

 

 More non-count nouns:

Fluids:  water, coffee, tea, oil, gasoline, blood

Gases:  air, smoke, pollution

Small particles:  rice, pepper, sugar, salt, sand

Abstractions:  beauty, education, music, luck, work

Let's practice:

Non-Count nouns never take "a/an."

No: a jewelry, a money, a rice

Non-Count nouns never take plural

No: jewelries, moneys, 2 rices

Count nouns can take a/an and have a plural form

Yes: a ring, an earring, 2 chairs, 3 dollars

 1.

Which is correct? a. I have a money. b. I have monies. c. I have money.

 2.

Which is correct? a. She has a car. b. She has car.

 3.

Which is correct? a. We need a sugar. b. We need sugar. c. We need sugars.

 4.

Which is correct? a. I bought chair. b. I bought 2 chair. c. I bought 2 chairs.

 5.

Which is correct? a. I want new furnitures. b. I want a new furniture. c. I want 3 new furnitures. d. I want new furniture.

Non-count nouns take much / a little

I have a little money. I don't have much time.

Count nounts take many / a few

I have many chairs. I have a few hours. (Notice the plural -s)

Both count and non-count can take a lot of or lots of.

I have a lot of furniture. I have a lot of chairs.

Let's practice:

 1.

I have ____________ dollars. a. a few b. a little

 2.

She has ___________ sugar. a. a little b. a few

 3.

We bought ________ jewelry. a. many b. a lot of

 4.

Seattle has too _________ rain. a. much b. many

 5.

I have __________ sandwiches. a. much b. many

 6.

We have ________________. a. a few homeworks b. many homeworks c. a little homework d. a lot of homeworks

 7.

We need ___________ for the cake. a. much egg b. much eggs c. many eggs d. a lot of egg

 8.

She sold _______________. a. a little books b. a few books c. many book d. much books

 

Non-count	Count
a lot of, lots of, much, a little	a lot of, lots of, many, a few
no "a/an," no plural form	a/an, plural form

Choose much or many. If it's count, you need to add plural "s."

 1.

We need ___________ (apple).

 2.

She has ____________ (money).

 3.

The store sells ___________(clothing).

 4.

He washed ___________ (shirt).

 5.

We talked to ___________ (friend).

 6.

He drank ___________ (coffee).

 7.

They eat ___________ (orange).

Choose a little or a few. If it's count, you need to add plural "s."

 1.

She bought _________ (jewelry).

 2.

She sold ___________ (ring).

 3.

The library has _________ (computer).

 4.

The library has __________ (furniture).

 5.

Seattle has __________ (sunshine).

 6.

The classroom has ___________ (chair).

 7.

My garden has _________ (flower).

Here are some more practices:

http://www.eslcafe.com/quiz/count1.html

http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/410/grammar/count.htm

http://a4esl.org/q/j/ck/ch-countnouns.html

 

 

 

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