Nouns that can be countable or uncountable

Some nouns can be either countable or uncountable. For example: a potato – potatoes, but potato as a dish.

countable

uncountable

I’m peeling the potatoes. Melanie baked a cake for David. Vicky was eating an apple. Someone threw a stone at the police.   Often the countable noun is specific. Rugby is a sport. That’s a nice painting (картина)over there. We heard a sudden noise outside. John Lennon had an interesting life. Some nouns can be countable and uncountable I bought a paper (= a newspaper) I’ll have a glass of orange juice, please. Have you got an iron? I switched all the lights on. I’ve been to France many times. The journey was a great experience. (событие) I had some interesting experiences (случай, приключение) while I was away (things that happened to me) I run a small business. ( a company) We finally found a space in the car park.   Did you hear a noise just now? (a particular noise) There’s a hair in my soup! ( one single hair) The complete works of Tolstoy A book/somebooks A kumquat is an exotic fruit There’s a wood near our house. He sat there and ate awholechicken. Words for drink are normally uncountable: Coffee is more expensive than tea. But when we are ordering or offering drinks we can say either a cup of coffee or a coffee. Two coffees, please (= two cups of coffee) Would you like a beer? (a glass/bottle/can of beer)

Would you like some potato? Have some cake/a piece of cake. Is there apple in this salad? The house was built of stone. The uncountable noun is more general. Do you like sport? (=in general) Paul is good at painting (живопись). Constant noise can make you ill. Life is complicated sometimes. with different meanings. I need some paper (material for writing on) to write on. I bought a piece of glass for the window. The bridge is made of iron. There’s more light by the window. I can’t stop. I haven’t got time. He has enough experience (опыт, стаж работы) for the job. They offered me the job because I had a lot of experience (not “experiences”) I enjoy doing business. There’s no space for the piano in here. There are hundreds of satellites out in space. I can’t work here. There’s too much noise. ( not many noises) You’ve got very long hair I’ve got a bit of work to do now Somemoney/information We should eat fruit every day. His sculpture was made of wood. I’ll have some chicken and chips, please.   Some nouns can be countable when we are talking about a particular kind or about different kinds. Chianti is an Italian wine. ( a kind of Italian wine) The use of plastics has greatly increased. (the use of different kinds of plastic)

Exercises

I. Complete he conversations. Choose the correct form.

1 I think sport/a sport is boring. – Me too. I hate it.

2 We ought to buy some potato/some potatoes. – OK, I’ll get them.

3 Did you hear noise/a noise in the middle of the night? – No, I don’t think so.

4 Is there cheese/a cheese in this soup? – Yes, a little.

5 I had conversation/ a conversation with Vicky last night. – Oh? What about?

6 Shall I put a chicken/some chicken in your sandwiches? – Yes, please.

7 Are you a pacifist? – Well, I don’t believe in war/ a war, so I suppose I am. 

8 It isn’t fair. – No, life/a life just isn’t fair, I’m afraid.

9 What’s the matter? – You’ve got some egg/some eggs on your shirt.

 

II. Complete the conversations. Put in these nouns: business (x2), experience (x2), glass, iron, light, paper, space, time. Put a/an or some before each noun.

Model: - Did you manage to park in town?

        - It took me ages to find a space. And all I wanted was to buy some paper to wrap this present in.

1 - Are you busy tomorrow?

  - I’m meeting someone in the office. We’ve got _________________________ to discuss.

 2 - Do you think I need to take _______________________________ with me for my shirts?

- Oh, surely the hotel will have one.

 3 - I’m going to have some juice, but I can’t find __________________________________.

- If you turned ______________________________ on, you might be able to see properly.

4 - I’ve never met your brother.

- Oh, he’s usually very busy because he runs _________________________. But he’s been ill recently.

The doctor has ordered him to spend __________________________________resting.

5 - How did your interview go?

- Well, I didn’t get the job. I think they really wanted someone with __________________________ of the work, and that’s what I haven’t got. So it was a bit of a waste of time. And the train coming back was two hours late. That’s ____________________________ I don’t want to repeat.

 

III. Complete Claire’s postcard to her sister. Choose the correct form.

  The island is very peaceful. Life/a life is good here. Everybody moves at a nice slow pace. People have time/a time to stop and talk. It’s experience/ an experience I won’t forget for a long time. There aren’t many shops, so I can’t spend all my money, although I did buy painting/ a painting yesterday. Now I’m sitting on the beach reading paper/ a paper. The hotel breakfast is so enormous that I don’t need to have lunch. I’ve just brought orange/an orange with me to eat later. I’ve been trying all the different fruit/fruits grown in this part of the world, and they’re all delicious.

 

 

Exercises

I. Which of the underlined parts of the sentences is correct?

1. Did you hear noise/ a noise just now? – No, I didn’t hear anything. (‘a noise is correct’)

2. a If you want to know the news, you can read paper/ a paper.

b I want to write some letters but I haven’t go a paper/ any paper to write on.

3. a I thought there was somebody in the house because there was a light/ light on inside.

b Light/ a light comes from the sun.

4. a I was in a hurry this morning. I didn’t have time/a time for breakfast.

b Did you enjoy your holiday? – Yes, we had wonderful time/ a wonderful time.

5. Sue was very helpful. She gave us some very useful advice/ advices.

6. We had very good weather/ a very good weather while we were on holiday.

7. We were very unfortunate. We had bad luck/ a bad luck.

8. It’s very difficult to find a work/ job at the moment.

9. Our travel /journey from London to Istanbul by train was very tiring.

10. When the fire alarm rang, there was total chaos/ a total chaos.

11. I had to buy a/ some bread because I wanted to make some sandwiches.

12. Bad news don’t/ doesn’t make people happy.

13. Your hair is /Your hairs are too long. You should have it/them cut.

14. Nobody was hurt in the accident but the damage/ the damages to car was/were quite bad.

 

II. Complete the sentences using these words. Sometimes you need the plural.

chair experience experience furniture hair information job luggage permission progress work

1. I didn’t have much__ luggage __ - just two bags.

2. They’ll tell you all you want to know. They’ll give you plenty of _________________________.

3. There is room for everybody to sit down. There are plenty of ____________________________.

4. We have no ________________________________________, not even a bed or a table.

5. What does Alan look like? – He’s got a long beard and very short __________________________.

6. Carla’s English is better than it was. She’s made ________________________________________.

7. George is unemployed. He’s looking for a ___________________________________.

8. George is unemployed. He’s looking for ______________________________________.

9. If you want to leave work early, you have to ask for ___________________________________.

10. I don’t think Ann will get the job. She hasn’t enough ___________________________________.

11. Rita has done many interesting things. She should write a book about her ____________________________.

 

⇐ Предыдущая123456789Следующая ⇒

Поделиться: