Uncountable Nouns

Rules and Examples

countable

or

uncountable

.

Nouns are usuallyor

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Countable nouns

can be counted and have singular and plural forms.

• 1 apple/3 apples
• 1 foot/12 feet
• a mouse/several mice

Uncountable Nouns:

Uncountable nouns

(also called noncount nouns and mass nouns) are nouns
that:

• cannot be counted
• cannot be made plural
• are not usually used with the articles
  “a” or “an”

• cannot be used alone with numbers

We cannot “count” uncountable nouns by themselves.

For example

,
we cannot count

sugar

by itself

.

We

can

count 

teaspoons
of sugar

,

cubes of
sugar

and

cups of
sugar

.

Many uncountable nouns refer to

substances

such as butter and water.

Other uncountable nouns
refer to

emotions

and

ideas

such as knowledge
and happiness.

Here are some common uncountable
nouns:

substances
emotions/ideas

sugar
love

milk
happiness

butter
power

water
patience

electricity
advice

money
grammar

news
education

coffee
sadness

work
time

sand
hate

weather
sorrow

furniture
forgiveness

food
experience

homework
peace

flour
anger

Rules for using uncountable nouns

1. Uncountable nouns have only one form

Uncountable nouns act like a singular noun.

Examples:

Uncountable
noun:

Advice

Incorrect:

• I need

  advices

  .

Correct:

• I need 

  advice

  .

• I need some

  advice

  .

Uncountable noun:

Furniture

Uncountable noun:

Incorrect:

• The room is full of

  furnitures

  .

Correct:

• The room is full of

  furniture

  .

• The room has a lot of

  furniture

  .

Uncountable noun:

Weather

Incorrect:

• We have had cold

  weathers

  this week.

Correct:

• We have had a lot of cold

  weather

  this week.

• We haven’t had much warm

  weather

  this week.

Uncountable noun:

Butter

Incorrect:

• I put

  butters

  on my

  pancakes

  .

Correct:

• I put

  butter

  on my pancakes.

• I put a slice of

  butter

  on my pancakes.

2.

Uncountable nouns

do not

immediately

follow

A

or

AN

Incorrect:

• I eat

  a

  sugar

  on my cereal.

Correct:

• I eat

  sugar

  on my cereal.

• I eat some

  sugar

  on my cereal.

• I eat

  a

  spoonful of 

  sugar

  on my cereal.

Incorrect:

• You must have

  an

  experience

  to apply for the job.

Correct:

• You must have 

  experience

  to apply for the job.

• You must have

  a

  little 

  experience

  to apply for the job.

Incorrect:

• I have

  a

  sand

  in my shoe.

Correct:

• I have 

  sand

  in my shoe.

• I have

  a

  bunch of 

  sand

  in my shoe.

3. You can modify uncountable nouns with quantity words and
phrases

Quantity words and phrases

make uncountable nouns appear countable.

Water

cannot be counted. We do not know the amount of

water

.

But, we

CAN

count:

• one cup of

  water

• a little bit
  of

   

  water

• some

   

  water

• a drop of

   

  water

These are all amounts of

water

that can be counted.

Here are some common

quantity words and phrases

to use with

uncountable
nouns

:

• some
• any
• a little
• much
• a lot of/lots of
• a little bit of
• enough
• plenty of
• no

Examples:

• Step outside for

  some

  fresh air

  .

• Did you bring

  any

  luggage

  to the hotel?

• Add

  a little

  flour

  to the dough.

• I don’t hear

  much

  noise

  when the windows are shut.

• I need

  a lot of

  money

  for my trip.

• Jim heard

  lots of

  thunder

  last night.

• A
  little bit of

  kindness

  goes a long way.

• The office does not have

  enough

  work

  for another employee.

• Teachers need

  plenty of

  patience

  to work with children.

• I have

  no

  coffee

  for my guests.

4. You can modify uncountable nouns by using a word that
specifies a

container

or

a form

• handful/handfuls
• bottle/bottles
• jar/jars
• packet/packets
• cup/cups
• bowl/bowls
• piece/pieces
• bar/bars
• slab/slabs
• cube/cubes
• game/games
• grain/grains
• barrel/barrels

Examples:

• handful

  of grass

• bottle

  of water

• jar

  of coffee

• cups

  of tea

• bowls

  of cheese

• piece

  of equipment
  

• bars

  of
  gold and silver

• slab

  of beef

• cubes

  of sugar

• game

  of tennis

• grains

  of sand

• barrels

  of wine

The container or form words can follow adjectives , numbers or the articles a/an/the.

Examples:

• a

  handful

  of grass

  

• the two

  bottles

  of water

• large

  jars

  of coffee

• the

  packet

  of salt

• a

  warm

  cup

  of
  tea

• half a

  bowl

  of cheese

• a

  piece

  of equipment

• twenty

  bars

  of gold or silver

• a huge

  slab

  of beef

• some

  cubes

  of sugar

• a

  game

  of tennis

• many

  grains

  of sand

• three

  barrels

  of wine

5

.
Some nouns can be countable or uncountable depending on their
meaning and how they are used in a sentence

For example, let’s look at the
word “glass.”

singular: glass

plural: glasses

A) I drank a big

glass

of juice.

B) She drank
two

glasses

.

C)
He cannot see and will have to buy

glasses

.

D)
The ball broke

glass

in the
window.

In sentences

A

and

B

,
glass is a

countable
noun

. We are talking about a
drinking glass.

In sentence

C

,
glasses is a

countable
noun

. We are talking about a pair
of spectacles or eye glasses.

In sentence

D

,
glass is an

uncountable
noun

. We are talking about glass
as a material. The window is made of glass. The window can be counted,
but

this type of

glass cannot
be counted

.

Let’s look at another
example.

singular: language

plural: languages

A) I only
speak one

language

.

B)
She speaks three

languages

.

C) Please don’t use bad

language

.

In sentence

A

, language is a

singular countable noun

.

In sentence

B

,
languages is a

plural
countable noun

.

In sentence

C

,
language is an

uncountable
noun

.

A few other words that
can be countable or uncountable are:

• paper
• hope
• business
• death
• time
• marriage
• power
• work
• property
• hair

singular: glassplural: glassesIn sentencesand, glass is a. We are talking about a drinking glass.In sentence, glasses is a. We are talking about a pair of spectacles or eye glasses.In sentence, glass is an. We are talking about glass as a material. The window is made of glass. The window can be counted, butsingular: languageplural: languagesIn sentence, language is aIn sentence, languages is aIn sentence, language is an

These were the rules of uncountable nouns. Now that you know them, it is
time to practice:

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can be counted and have singular and plural forms.(also called noncount nouns and mass nouns) are nouns that:We cannot “count” uncountable nouns by themselves., we cannot countWecountandUncountable nouns act like a singular noun.make uncountable nouns appear countable.cannot be counted. We do not know the amount ofBut, wecount:These are all amounts ofthat can be counted.These were the rules of uncountable nouns. Now that you know them, it is time to practice: Illustrated Worksheet on Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Have you ever had influenza? Do you like to spread gossip? Did you have a nice childhood? Are these questions causing you confusion? Don’t worry, you aren’t being graded right now.

We just wanted to ask some questions that use nouns, words that we use to refer to people, places, things, or ideas. We use many different types of nouns in our speech and writing, but the nouns influenza, gossip, childhood, and confusion are all the same type of noun known as an uncountable noun.

What is an uncountable noun?

An uncountable noun, also called a mass noun, is “a noun that typically refers to an indefinitely divisible substance or an abstract notion, and that in English cannot be used, in such a sense, with the indefinite article or in the plural.”

What exactly does this mean in less technical language? Well, an uncountable noun refers to something that can’t be counted with numbers. For that reason, uncountable nouns normally don’t use the articles a or an and don’t have plural forms. For example, you don’t feel a happiness nor does the noun Pacific Ocean have a plural form (we don’t have Pacific Oceans). It would also be pretty weird to try to count things referred to by uncountable nouns, such as 1 peace or 37 peaces.   

However, an uncountable noun may use a plural verb if it is treated as a plural word. For example, the word police is an uncountable noun (you can’t have two or three polices) but it uses a plural verb as in The police are on their way.   

One last thing to keep in mind is that many words have multiple meanings and so a noun may be an uncountable noun or not depending on context. For example, the word iron is an uncountable noun when it is referring to the chemical element (a molecule doesn’t have three irons) but it is not an uncountable noun when referring to an appliance used to get wrinkles out of clothing (you can buy three irons at the store).

Another type of noun that often crosses paths with uncountable nouns are abstract nouns. Learn more about them here.

Uncountable noun examples

Uncountable nouns can be hard to spot, so let’s look at some examples.

Emotions, ideas, and concepts 

Most uncountable nouns refer to intangible concepts or abstract ideas. Because these things don’t actually exist as material objects, it would usually be impossible to count them. However, not all abstract nouns are uncountable nouns. It is possible to have three possibilities or to have a concern and so these are not uncountable nouns. If you can count a noun, it’s known as a countable noun—and we’ll discuss these too shortly.

 

• Emotions:  sadness, anger, enthusiasm, hesitation, unease
• Qualities: bravery, shyness, cowardice, agility, intelligence, pride
• Ideas: chaos, peace, anarchy, nihilism, capitalism

Objects

Sometimes, objects are referred to using uncountable nouns. These too might have a sense in which they are also used as countable nouns.

 

• Foods: water, milk, bread, honey, sugar, meat, pork
• Chemical elements: hydrogen, oxygen, gold, uranium
• Weather: rain, snow, fog, hail, lightning, thunder, sleet
• Collective nouns (i.e., “a whole group as a single entity”): furniture, clothing, equipment, machinery

Uncountable nouns and fewer vs. less

Uncountable nouns lead us to the heated fewer vs. less debate. In general, we use fewer with countable nouns as in I need to buy fewer apples next time and less with uncountable nouns as in I think the puppy did better with less discipline. However, there are many exceptions to this general rule, such as when referring to distances as in The store is less than three miles away.

The words less and fewer are used interchangeably more and more often in everyday day speech (no matter how grammar purists may feel about it—and they often feel very strongly about it).

List of uncountable nouns

Uncountable nouns can be difficult to find, so let’s put together a list of uncountable nouns you are likely to see.

 

• aggression, bookishness, calm, dedication, entertainment, fun, gratitude, help, isolation, junk, kleptomania, laziness, mustard, news, originality, patience, quiet, rice, stuff, traffic, ugliness, vastness, wanderlust, xenon, yoga, zest

The difference between uncountable & countable nouns

While uncountable nouns refer to things that can’t be counted, countable nouns refer to people, places, and things that can be counted. Unlike uncountable nouns, countable nouns will often use the articles a or an and can have singular or plural forms. Countable nouns are much more common than uncountable nouns, and it is usually straightforward to tell if a person, place, or thing can be counted or not. But grammar likes to throw plenty of curveballs, too.

Need a refresher on countable nouns? We’ve got your number! Check out this article that offers more detail on them here.

You will need to watch out for words that can be either an uncountable or a countable noun depending on meaning and context. Also remember that not all collective nouns and abstract nouns are uncountable nouns: the word problem is an abstract noun and a countable noun (you can have a problem or 99 problems). The word army is a collective noun, and it too is a countable noun (you can be a member of an army and a battle could involve two armies).

Let’s finish things up with a test of your understanding of uncountable nouns. Read each of the following sentences and see if you can figure out why each noun is or is not an uncountable noun.

 

1. He suffered from loneliness.
2. She has a lot of pets.
3. They came to an agreement.
4. She has nerves of steel.
5. The bucket was filled with wine.
6. Charles’s cellar is full of expensive wines.

This topic might just inspire you  to say: I love grammar (uncountable), but those nouns (countable) cause me trouble.

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Answers: 1. Uncountable 2. Countable 3. Countable 4. Uncountable 5. Uncountable 6. Countable