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COUNT AND NONCOUNT NOUNS

WHATS THE PROBLEM? I have plenty of tree in my yard to provide the lumbers for your new garden shed. Did you notice the errors? Lets take a closer look. In English, common nouns fall into two grammatical categories: count and noncount nouns. The greatest difference between these two types is that count nouns can take a plural form, and noncount nouns cannot. The word tree, for example, is a count noun: one tree, two trees. The word lumber is a noncount noun because it is considered a material, not an individual item that can be made plural.

Knowing the correct category of these two nouns allows us to correct the above sentence: I have plenty of trees in my yard to provide the lumber for your new garden shed. HOW CAN WE IDENTIFY COUNT AND NONCOUNT NOUNS? Knowing whether a noun is count or noncount is often difficult, particularly for non-native speakers of English, because the differences between the two types of nouns may seem subtle and even arbitrary. However, general patterns (and, as always, exceptions) for these categories do exist. Noncount nouns typically identify something abstract or something that is tangible but not identified as separate objects. abstract concepts: love, courage, enjoyment, happiness, interest, control activities and sports: football, hockey, knitting, shopping, fishing, polo academic subjects: biology, folklore, linguistics, history, physics, math food and drink (some): bread, flour, corn, fish, rice, ginger, water, tea other substances/materials: air, oil, cement, cotton, powder, soil, hydrogen collectives: furniture, equipment, luggage, silverware, jewelry, staff

Consider the differences between nouns with related meanings: count (plural form) bags noncount baggage (collective)

books carrots cars dollars jobs lakes letters lies plates shirts skis songs weeds

literature (collective/academic) lettuce (material) traffic (concept) cash (collective) work (concept) water (substance) mail (collective) truth (concept) china (material) clothing (collective) skiing (activity) music (collective/academic) vegetation (collective/material)

Many nouns can fit into either category, depending on the situation. Note how some of the following nouns can take on count or noncount characteristics: Tara speaks three languages fluently. (count: Chinese, English, Arabic) Complexity of language sets humans apart. (noncount: abstract/academic) Fruit is an important part of a balanced diet. (noncount: substance/collective) My two favorite fruits are pears and mangoes. (count: two different fruits) Thompson found a hair in his food. (count: better than two hairs!) Martha claimed that motherhood made her hair turn gray. (noncount: material) Ive never had a good mind for business. (noncount: abstract/academic) Anja already owns two businesses. (count: two separate organizations) Volleyball is Terrys favorite sport. (noncount: sport) I gave her a volleyball for Christmas. (count: one ball) Keep exceptions to pluralization rules in mind. Not all plural words end in s, and some singular words do: Five deer walked through my yard this morning. (count) Economics is my most challenging course this term. (noncount) Specialists in certain fields may use typically noncount nouns as count nouns. For example, music scholars may use the word musics to emphasize the many traditions and forms of music. When in doubt, use a dictionary that specifies count and noncount nouns. Some popular examples include Longman's Dictionary and Random House Webster's Dictionary of American English: An ESL Dictionary.

WHY DOES IT MATTER? Identifying whether a noun is count or noncount helps determine which articles and quantifiers can precede the noun. count a/an (if singular) many few number of noncount (a/an not used) much little amount of

Since noncount nouns cannot be made plural, quantity must be indicated by preceding measurements. 1 liters of water 10 lbs. of flour 2 ears of corn 3 cups of coffee 2 types of music TRY IT! Circle all noncount nouns in this passage: For months after my stepfather died, Mommy walked around the house as if she were blind, staggering through the motions of life. She gave away Daddys clothes, his tools, his hats . . . gone to the Goodwill. She sent us off to school and tried to maintain her crazy house as usual, ranting about this and that, but the fire was gone. In the evening she often sat at the kitchen table completely lost in thought. Shed stop in midsentence and walk away silently, covering her face. At night she cried in her bedroom, though she always hid her tears from us. Daddys gold Pontiac sat in front of the house for months, leaves gathering around the tires and bird crap gathering on its hood. Im going to learn to drive it, she promised, but instead she started riding her bike and taking piano lessons, sitting at the piano every evening, staring at the music and slowly, excrutiatingly picking out the notes to her favorite gospel hymn. James McBride, The Color of Water 1 bag of garbage 3 balls of dough 12 gallons of gasoline 2 piles of gravel teaspoon of cinnamon