Countable & Non-countable Nouns

Some nouns, such as “children,” “tables,” or “cakes,” can be counted and are therefore called countable nouns.

I saw a child playing in the garden.

Later, I saw 6 children playing in the street.

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With countable nouns we can use the general determiners many and few.  

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               There were many children in the street.

               There were few children in the street.

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Other nouns cannot be counted directly. To count a non-countable noun we must use a ‘pre-determiner’ that can be counted.

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               I have two pieces of news for you.

               I drank three cups of tea.

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With non-countable nouns we can use the general determiners much and little.

               I don’t have much news for you.

               I have little money to give you.

Although much can be used in the positive or negative, it is more common in the negative.

The determiners, a lot of and some can be used with both countable or non-countable nouns.

               I saw some children on the street.

               I have some news for you.

               I saw a lot of children on the street.

               I have a lot of news for you.

Some examples of non-countable nouns: air / gold / news / money / information / feedback / documentation / literature / furniture / software / equipment / weather

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Many nouns refer to abstract ideas instead of concrete things or people. These abstract nouns are rarely countable: beauty / blindness / courage / determination / equality / fear / hate / wealth

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Some nouns are non-countable when we refer to quantity and countable when we refer to types.                              

                   Example:        Sugar     I put two spoons of sugar in my coffee.

                                                                There are many sugars in the world. (fructose, glucose, sucrose etc)

Other examples: oil, water, flour, wheat, grass etc

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