Count and Uncount Nouns

Nouns are divided into the categories of Count and Noncount Nouns. The basic distinction is that count nouns can take the plural form, while noncount nouns cannot.

Singular Plural apple apples car cars music No plural form furniture No plural form

Typically, count nouns refer to things that you can easily count.

bananas boats bottles cars countries houses pencils ships sticks students

Noncount nouns refer to things that by their nature are not easily countable. Often they are things in liquid or mass form or abstract ideas.

sand beauty butter electricity honesty music sand satisfaction truth water

Other noncount nouns are not as easy to determine and can lead to confusion.

advice behavior bread chaos clothing dirt equipment food fruit furniture grammar homework housework information jewelry luck luggage mail money music news permission progress scenery slang stuff traffic vocabulary weather work

Some nouns can be both count and noncount nouns. Usually there is a difference in meaning.

John has some chickens on his farm. (the whole birds)

Mary ate some chicken for dinner (the stuff you eat)

John has a fish in his aquarium. (the whole fish)

Mary had some fish for lunch. (the stuff you eat)

There are two hairs in my soup. (two individual hairs)

Your hair is pretty. (all of the hair on your head) Count and Uncountable exercises