Common Nouns Countable Nouns: People

A noun is the word that refers to a person, thing or abstract idea.
A noun can tell you who or

what.
There are several different types of noun:-
 There are common nouns such as dog, car, chair etc.

 Nouns that refer to things which can be counted (can be singular or plural) are countable
nouns.
 Nouns that refer to some groups of countable nouns, substances, feelings and types of
activity (can only be singular) are uncountable nouns.
 Nouns that refer to a group of people or things are collective nouns.
 Nouns that refer to people, organisations or places are proper nouns, only proper nouns
are capitalised.
 Nouns that are made up of two or more words are called compound nouns.
 Nouns that are formed from a verb by adding -ing are called gerunds
A common noun is a word that names people, places, things, or ideas. They are not the names
of a single person, place or thing.
A common noun begins with a lowercase letter unless it is at the beginning of a sentence.
For example:-
People:-
man, girl, boy, mother, father, child, person, teacher, student
Animals:-
cat, dog, fish, ant, snake
Things:-
book, table, chair, phone
Places:-
school, city, building, shop
Ideas:-
love, hate, idea, pride
A noun can be countable or uncountable. Countable nouns can be "counted", they have a

singular and plural form .
For example:
 A book, two books, three books .....

 An apple, two apples, three apples ....
Uncountable nouns (also called mass nouns or noncount nouns) cannot be counted, they are not
seperate objects. This means you cannot make them plural by adding -s, because they only have
a singular form. It also means that they do not take a/an or a number in front of them.
For example:
 Water
 Work
 Information
 Coffee
 Sand
Countable Uncountable
(use a/an or a number in front of (there is no a/an or number with
countable nouns) uncountable nouns)
An Apple / 1 Apple Rice
I eat rice every day. (not I eat a rice every

I eat an apple every day.
day.)
There is no plural form for an

Add (s) to make a countable noun plural
uncountable noun
apples rice
I eat an apple every day. Apples

I eat rice every day. Rice is good for you.
are good for you.
To make uncountable nouns countable

add a counting word, such as a unit of
A computer= Computers are fun.
measurement, or the general word piece.
We use the form "a ....... of ......."
An elephant=Elephants are large. Rice=a grain of rice

Water=a glass of water
Rain=a drop of rain
Music=a piece of music
You can use some and any with You can use some and any with
countable nouns. uncountable nouns.
Some dogs can be dangerous. I usually drink some wine with my meal.
I don't use any computers at work. I don't usually drink any water with my
wine.
You only use many and few with plural

You only use much and little with
countable nouns.
uncountable nouns.
So many elephants have been hunted that
I don't usually drink much coffee.
they are an endangered species.
Little wine is undrinkable though.
There are few elephants in England.
You can use a lot of and no with plural You can use a lot of and no with
countable nouns. uncountable nouns.
No computers were bought last week. A lot of wine is drunk in France.
A lot of computers were reported broken No wine is drunk in Iran.
the week before.
Making uncountable nouns countable
You can make most uncountable noun countable by putting a countable expression in front of
the noun.
For example:-
 A piece of information.
 2 glasses of water.
 10 litres of coffee.
 Three grains of sand.
 A pane of glass.
Sources of confusion with countable and uncountable nouns
The notion of countable and uncountable can be confusing.
Some nouns can be countable or uncountable depending on their meaning. Usually a noun is
uncountable when used in a general, abstract meaning (when you don't think of it as a separate
object) and countable when used in a particular meaning (when you can think of it as a separate
object).
For example:-
glass - A glass of water. (Countable) | A window made of glass. (Uncountable)
Some supposedly uncountable nouns can behave like countable nouns if we think of them as
being in containers, or one of several types.
This is because 'containers' and 'types' can be counted.
Believe it or not each of these sentences is correct:-
Doctors recommend limiting consumption to two coffees a day.

(Here coffees refers to the number of cups of coffee)
You could write; "Doctors recommend limiting consumption to two cups of coffee a day."
The coffees I prefer are Arabica and Brazilian.

(Here coffees refers to different types of coffee)
You could write; "The types of coffee I prefer are Arabica and Brazilian."
!Note - In good monolingual dictionaries, uncountable nouns are identified by [U] and
countable nouns by [C].
A collective noun is a noun that is singular in form but refers to a group of people or things.
Sometimes they refer to a group of specific things:-
For example:-
Tables, chairs, cupboards etc. are grouped under the collective noun furniture.
Plates, saucers, cups and bowls are grouped under the collective noun crockery.
These collective nouns are often uncountable.
Sometimes they are more general:-
For example:-
Groups of people - army, audience, band, choir, class, committee, crew, family, gang, jury,
orchestra, police, staff, team, trio
Groups of animals - colony, flock, herd, pack, pod, school, swarm
Groups of things - bunch, bundle, clump, pair, set, stack
When such a group is considered as a single unit, the collective noun is used with a singular verb
and singular pronouns.
For example - The committee has reached its decision.
But when the focus is on the individual members of the group, British English uses a plural verb
and plural pronouns.
For example - "The committee have been arguing all morning." This is the same as saying "The
people in the committe have been ...."
A determiner in front of a singular collective noun is always singular: this committee ,

never these committee (but of course when the collective noun is pluralized, it takes a plural
determiner: these committees ).

Common Nouns Countable Nouns: People

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Common Nouns Countable Nouns: People

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Common Nouns Countable Nouns: People

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

A noun is the word that refers to a person, thing or abstract idea.

A noun can tell you who or

There are several different types of noun:-

 There are common nouns such as dog, car, chair etc.

man, girl, boy, mother, father, child, person, teacher, student

cat, dog, fish, ant, snake

book, table, chair, phone

school, city, building, shop

A noun can be countable or uncountable. Countable nouns can be "counted", they have a

 A book, two books, three books .....

An Apple / 1 Apple Rice

I eat rice every day. (not I eat a rice every

There is no plural form for an

I eat an apple every day. Apples

To make uncountable nouns countable

An elephant=Elephants are large. Rice=a grain of rice

Rain=a drop of rain

Music=a piece of music

You only use many and few with plural

Making uncountable nouns countable

Sources of confusion with countable and uncountable nouns

The notion of countable and uncountable can be confusing.

glass - A glass of water. (Countable) | A window made of glass. (Uncountable)

This is because 'containers' and 'types' can be counted.

Believe it or not each of these sentences is correct:-

Doctors recommend limiting consumption to two coffees a day.

The coffees I prefer are Arabica and Brazilian.

Sometimes they refer to a group of specific things:-

These collective nouns are often uncountable.

Sometimes they are more general:-

Groups of things - bunch, bundle, clump, pair, set, stack

For example - The committee has reached its decision.

A determiner in front of a singular collective noun is always singular: this committee ,

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.