Count - Noncount

Count/Noncount

articles overview * some count/noncount examples * concordance practice
practice: Columbus * Washington * First Amendment * Casey at the Bat

In order to "count" noncount nouns, using numbers:

USE A DIFFERENT (COUNTABLE) NOUN:
ADD A (COUNTABLE) CONTAINER or "MEASURE" WORD:

A. Whether a noun is countable or noncount is not always logical. For example:

Alex has three on his plate. Emma has three on her plate.

B. MANY WORDS CAN HAVE BOTH A COUNTABLE AND A NONCOUNT MEANING!!
Can you use each word below once with a count meaning and another time with a noncount meaning? (To make it obvious whether your nouns are countable or noncount, use indefinite or plural nouns in your examples.)

Ex. * Freedom is important to most people.
* A famous American talked about 4 freedoms, but I can only remember one of the freedoms he talked about: "freedom from fear."

air
art
baseball
beauty
beer
business

cake
chance
chicken
crime
democracy
education

evil
experience
family
fear
fertilizer
film

fish
friendship
glass
history
life
light

noise
oil
paper
responsibility
school
science

skill
talk
time
truth
video
work

CAREFUL
These words are almost always noncount in American English:
advice * candy * clothing * equipment * fun * furniture
information * luck * luggage * news * weather * (home)work

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Ann Salzmann
Intensive English Institute
University of Illinois

COUNT		NONCOUNT
singular	plural
a/an _____ 1 _____	_____s 7 ____s	______

COUNT NOUNS:	usually have 2 forms: singular and plural
	can follow numbers (a/an = "one")
NONCOUNT NOUNS:	do not have a plural form (+ singualr verb)
	cannot follow numbers