countable nouns

Countablenouns are the names of separate items which can be counted. They can normally be used with the indefinite article a / an and in the plural with numbers, many, few, some, any:

• Did you buy a newspaper today? ~ I bought two newspapers, 'The Mirror' and 'The Sun'.
• Have we got any oranges in the house? ~ We've got some apples but we don't have a single orange.
  

uncountable nouns

Uncountable nouns are the names of materials or collections of other things which in English we regard as masses and not as separate items. Uncountable nouns are not normally used with the indefinite article a / an or in the plural. For example, we cannot say an accommodation or many accommodations. Instead we have to say:

• Is there very much accommodation for students in this part of town? ~ There is some on the other side of the river, but there's very little around here, I'm afraid.

Note that we need to use much / little with uncountable nouns, many / few with countable nouns and that we use some / any with both countable and uncountable nouns.

uncountable nouns: word families

What is a countable noun in your language may be an uncountable noun in English. It may therefore be a good idea to try to learn uncountable nouns in groups connected with the same subject area, e.g.:

TRAVEL: information, travel, traffic, accommodation, money, equipment, luggage, clothes, pyjamas, jeans, trousers, shorts, tights, knickers, pants.

Note that all the uncountable nouns associated with clothes are plural uncountables. They cannot be used in the singular form or with numbers. We cannot say for example a shorts or two shorts. Instead we have to say:

• Can you lend me a pair of shorts? I've forgotten mine ~ I've got two pairs. Which ones would you like? Those ones or these ones? ~ I'll have those ones.

HOUSEHOLD ITEMS: furniture, bedding, flooring, washing-upliquid, washingpowder:

• What sort of flooring are you going to have in your new house? ~ We thought we'd have vinyl in the kitchen and
  hall and carpet on the stairs and landing.

WEATHER: weather, lightning, thunder, rain, snow, wind, sunshine:

• Did you have very much snow last winter? ~ There was quite a bit (of snow) higher up in the hills, but down here in the valley we didn't get very much, no.

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES: cotton, wool, fabric, leather, plastic, wood, stone, concrete, oil, gas, coal:

• Is this shirt made of cotton or nylon? ~ It's 60% cotton and 40% acrylic fabric.

FOOD: sugar, salt, pepper, rice, pasta, spaghetti, flour, butter, bread, soup:

• Would you like some bread with the soup? ~ Do you have any bread rolls? ~ No. ~ Oh well, I'll have a slice of toast, then.

PROFESSIONAL ENDEAVOUR: work, research, knowledge, intelligence, training, progress, stamina, patience, determination, commitment, reliability, loyalty:

• Have you done any research on this? ~ No, I haven't, but there was a piece of research that James did last year that might be relevant.
  

uncountable > countable

Note that when we want to transform an uncountable noun into a countable expression, we normally use a partitivestructure. We have already had: bread > a slice of bread, snow > a bit of snow, shorts > a pair of shorts, research > apiece of research. Here are some of the most common associated with weather

• wind > a gust of wind
• rain > a shower of rain / a drop of rain
• lightning > a flash of lightning
• thunder > a clap / a rumble of thunder
• frost > a touch of frost
• fog > a patch of fog
• snow > a flurry of snow / a flake of snow
• sunshine > a burst of sunshine

BBC weather forecast: There will be a touch of frost in East Anglia and the East Midlands might get a shower or twoof rain before the night is out.

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