Some common noncount nouns

COUNT AND NONCOUNT NOUNS

I bought a chair. Tom bought three chairs. We bought some furniture. INCORRECT: We bought a furniture. INCORRECT: We bought some furnitures.	Chair is a count noun; chairs are items that can be counted. Furniture is a noncount noun. In grammar, furniture cannot be counted.
Singular Plural
COUNT NOUN	a chair one chair	chairs two chairs some chairs a lot of chairs many chairs	A count noun: a) may be preceded by a/an in the singular; b) takes a final –s/es in the plural.
NONCOUNT NOUN	furniture some furniture a lot of furniture much furniture		A noncount noun: a) is not immediately preceded by a/an; b) has no plural form; does not take a final –s/-es.

1. Whole groups made up of similar items: baggage, clothing, equipment, food, fruit, furniture, garbage, hardware, jewelry, junk, luggage, mail, machinery, make-up, money/cash/change, postage, scenery, traffic.

1. Fluids: water, coffee, tea, milk, oil, soup, gasoline, blood, etc.
2. Solids: ice, bread, butter, cheese, meat, gold, iron, silver, glass, paper, wood, cotton, wool, etc.
3. Gases: stream, air, oxygen, nitrogen, smoke, smog, pollution, etc.
4. Particles: rice, chalk, corn, dirt, dust, flour, grass, hair, pepper, salt, sand, sugar, wheat, etc.

 

1. Abstractions:

ï beauty, confidence, courage, education, enjoyment, fun, happiness, health, help, honesty, hospitality, importance, intelligence, justice, knowledge, laugher, luck, music, patience, peace, pride, progress, recreation, significance, sleep, truth, violence, wealth, etc. ï advice, information, news, evidence, proof; ï time, space, energy; ï homework, work; ï grammar, slang, vocabulary.

1. Languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, Spanish, etc.
2. Fields of study: economics, chemistry, engineering, history, literature, mathematics, psychology, etc.
3. Recreation: baseball, soccer, tennis, chess, bridge, poker, etc.
4. General activities: driving, studying, swimming, travelling, walking (and other gerunds).

1. Natural Phenomena: weather, dew, fog, hail, heat, humidity, gravity, rain, lightning, sleet, snow, thunder, wind, darkness, light, sunshine, electricity, fire.

 

Дата добавления: 2014-11-29