UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
Names of substances considered generally:
bread / cream / gold / paper / tea / beer / dust/ ice / sand / water / cloth / gin / jam / soap / wine / coffee / glass / oil / stone / wood
Abstract nouns:
advice / beauty / behaviour / concern / confidence / death / depression / design / duty /experience / faith / hope / horror / pity / beauty / fear / fun / information / relief / courage / happiness / health / help / justice / life / love / knowledge / nonsense / permission / poverty / pride / progress / reality / suspicion / mercy / traffic / training / transport / travel / weather / work
Also considered uncountable in English:
baggage / childhood / comfort / countryside / courage / damage / death / democracy / education / electricity / environment / equipment / evil / evidence / existence / failure / furniture / homework / luggage / shopping / camping / furniture / parking / weather / hair / information / knowledge / news / rubbish
Uncountable nouns are always singular and are not used with a/an:
I don't want (any) advice or help.
I want (some) information.
He has had no experience in this sort of work.
To count uncountable nouns, or to refer to a specific amount of something, we can use phrases like a piece of, a bit of, a slice of, etc. Here are some examples:
a bit of news
a cake of soap
a drop of oil
a grain of sand
a pane of glass
a piece of advice
a pot of jam
a jar of jam
a sheet of paper
a bar of chocolate
a bit of cheese
a blob of paint
a bottle of cola
a can of lemonade
a carton of milk
a cup of coffee
a drop of water
a glass of orange juice
a gram of sugar
a handful of rice
a kilo of rice
a loaf of bread
a litre of water
a lump of sugar
a piece of furniture
a pile of rubbish
a pool of blood
a portion of chicken
a sheet of paper
a slice of cake
a spoonful of salt
a spot of blood
a touch of glamour
a tube of toothpaste
Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable. Here are examples:
|
Noun |
Example (countable) |
Example (uncountable) |
|
chicken |
He sat there and ate a whole chicken. |
I'll have some chicken and chips, please. |
|
coffee |
I'd love a coffee now. (= a cup) |
Is there any coffee left? |
|
experience |
Failing an exam was a new experience for me. |
Have you had any previous experience? |
|
fruit |
A kumquat is an exotic fruit. |
You should eat fruit every day. |
|
hair |
The cat has left white hairs all over the sofa. |
Get your hair cut — it's getting too long. |
|
juice |
I'd like an orange juice, please. (= a glass) |
There's some apple juice in the fridge. |
|
noise |
I heard a noise outside the window. |
Stop making so much noise! |
Sometimes the countable and uncountable forms can have completely different meanings:
|
Noun |
Example (countable) |
Example (uncountable) |
|
iron |
Is the iron hot enough? |
Spinach is full of iron. |
|
paper |
Dad's reading his paper. (= newspaper) |
You'll need some paper to write on. |
|
wood |
There's a wood near our house. |
His sculpture was made of wood. |
|
work |
the complete works of Shakespeare |
I've got a bit of work to do. |
