English countable and uncountable nouns

What are countable nouns?

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Countable nouns definition

Countable nouns as the name suggest are used for words that can be counted both in singular and plural form through the use of a determiner or a number before them. 

Countable nouns examples

Countable nouns and determiners

Countable nouns easily can be identified by the determiners placed before them. The most commonly used ones are "a" (before a noun with a consonant) and "an" (before a noun with a vowel). Sometimes you could also see the determiners "my", "the", "some".

Examples:

• I bought you an apple this morning. 
• Would you like a suggestion?
• This is my plan.

What are uncountable nouns?

Uncountable nouns definition

Uncountable nouns are used for words that can't be counted through the use of numbers and generally seen as a whole. Their form is singular and the verb used with them in a sentence is singular as well.  

Uncountable nouns are used with:

• Abstract ideas
• Natural phenomena
• Qualities and feelings
• Liquids
• Gasses

Uncountable nouns list

Uncountable nouns and determiners

For these nouns, we can't use a numerical value to identify them. Therefore numerical determiners and articles could help us for that. The most commonly used identifiers and expressions could be found on the table below. 

Examples:

• Is it okay if we play a bit of music?
• We need a cup of flour for the recipe.
• A handful of almonds contains approximately 160 calories.
• I need some advice about my project.
• You need to add a pinch of salt to the meal. 

Nouns and pronouns

We already mentioned some of the pronouns that could be used with nouns. In the following two tables we will present you with few examples for countable and uncountable nouns using pronouns to clear out any confusion and how they could be used with the two types of nouns.