✅ Countable nouns are things that we are able to count. If we can have one, two, three, or more of something, it’s countable. Here are some common countable nouns:

 

Countable nouns can be singular or plural:

E.g: Try to eat an apple a day. / Try to eat two apples a day.

 

➡ When a countable noun is singular, we need to use a pronoun like a / the / my / this with it:

 

E.g: ✔ I want an apple.

not ❌ I want apple.

 

✔ Where is my apple? 

not ❌ Where is apple?

 

➡ We can use the indefinite article a / an with countable nouns. We use these when we are talking about a thing in general and don’t need to talk about a specific one:

 

E.g: I have a banana and an apple.

 

➡ When a countable noun is plural, we can use it alone:

 

E.g: I like apples. / Apples are delicious.

 

We can use some and any with countable nouns. We use some for positive sentences and any for negative sentences and questions. We use these when we are talking about two or more of a thing but don’t need to specify how many:

 

E.g: Do you have any apples? Yes, I’ve got some apples if you’d like.

 

We can use a few and many with countable nouns:

 

E.g: I’ve got a few apples in the kitchen. I haven’t eaten many apples recently.

 

✅ Uncountable nouns are things or ideas that we can’t talk about as individual pieces or parts. This is because we can’t really count the parts of these nouns. Since we cannot count individual pieces of water, we aren’t able to count water. But we are able to count liters of water, drops of water, or bottles of water, Here are some common uncountable nouns: 

 

We treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb. For example:

 

- This news is very important. Your luggage looks heavy.

 

- Your luggage looks heavy.

 

➡ We do not use the indefinite article a / an with uncountable nouns. We cannot say “an information” or “a music”. We can only use a / an if we quantify these uncountable nouns with a measure word, and say a (something) of:

 

- a stick of butter

- a feeling of happiness

- a cup of milk

- a piece of news

- a grain of rice

- a bottle of water

 

➡ We can use some and any with uncountable nouns:

- I’ve got some money.

- Have you got any rice?

 

➡ We can use a little (or a bit of) and much with uncountable nouns:

 

- I’m a little hungry.

- I read a bit of news today.

- I didn’t have much food for lunch.

- I haven’t read much news recently.

 

Let's practice!

 

Complete the following sentences with a / an / the / any / some

 

1. I have __________ egg for breakfast every morning.

 

2. Jake has __________ cute dog. __________ dog is brown.

 

3. Is there __________ food left?

 

4. There are __________ pictures on the wall.

 

5. Marilyn Monroe was __________ actress.

 

Interested in more English language challenges? Follow our Instagram account @limlessons for daily quizzes and lessons. 

 

We hope this lesson has been helpful for you.

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