2How are words counted – Answers

1. fair-haired

This is counted as one word. It is a compound noun but it is

connected by a hyphen to make one word.

2. 55%

This is counted as one word in writing and as one number in

listening. The

3. 1960’s

This is counted as one word in writing and one number in

listening.

4. 21st July

This is counted as two words in writing and in listening is it one

number and one word.

5. can’t

This is counted as one word in writing and listening. Although it

has a meaning of two words, the words are contracted to make
one word.

6. 9am

This is counted as one word in writing. In listening, it is counted

as one number only. The “am” does not count as a word on its
own.

7. up-to-date

This is counted as one word because it is a compound noun

joined with hyphens.

8. $19.17

This is counted as one word in writing and in listening it is

counted as one number. Symbols do not count at all.
 Names

1. Capital Letter
2. Initials Ex: J.K. Simon (use . in name)
3. Titles Ex: Mr Mrs Miss Ms (don’t use . in titles)
4. For Doctor title use . Ex: Dr.

Plural & Singular

What is an uncountable noun?

Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted in
numbers. For example, one house / two houses. When we
use countable nouns, we use the article “a” and the plural “s”
(a house, two houses).

Uncountable nouns are nouns which can’t be counted. For

example, information. It is not possible to say one
information/ two informations. The word “information” can’t
be counted using numbers. It can never have a plural “s”. It
can never have an article “a” or “an”. And it can never be
quantified with any number.

What types of uncountable nouns are there?

Most uncountable nouns relate to:

 liquids (milk, water)

 abstract ideas (advice, chaos, motivation)
 powder and grain (rice, wheat, sand)
  mass nouns (furniture, hair, transportation)
 natural phenomena (sunshine, snow, rain, weather)
 states of being (sleep, stress, childhood)
 feelings (anger, happiness, enthusiasm, courage)
 gas (oxygen, air)

Uncountable Nouns & Grammar

 How much …? = uncountable nouns / How many …? =

countable nouns /
 These = countable / This = uncountable
 many = countable / a lot of = uncountable (and
countable)
 not many = countable / not much uncountable (we use
“much” with negative uncountable nouns)

To express an amount of an uncountable noun, you must use

other words.

 some information = a piece of information

 some clothing = one item of clothing / two items of
clothing
 some equipment = a piece of equipment / two pieces of
equipment
 some water = a cup of water / two glasses of water

Uncountable Noun List

I have put the most common words in bold. Some words are
both countable and uncoutable – I have put a note next to
those words.

A-F Uncountable Nouns

 accommodation
 advertising
 air
 aid
 advice
 anger
 art
 assistance
 bread
 business
 butter
 calm
 cash
 chaos
 cheese (both)
 childhood (both)
 clothing
 coffee (both)
 content
 corruption
 courage
 currency (both)
 damage
 danger (both)
 darkness
 data
 determination
 economics
 education (both)
 electricity
 employment
 energy
 entertainment (both)
 enthusiasm
 equipment
 evidence
 failure (both)
 fame
 fire
  flour
 food (both)
 freedom
 friendship (both)
 fuel
 furniture
 fun

G -M Uncountable Nouns

 genetics
 gold
 grammar
 guilt
 hair
 happiness
 harm
 health
 heat
 help
 homework
 honesty
 hospitality
 housework
 humour
 imagination (both)
 importance
 information
 innocence
 intelligence
 jealousy
 juice
 justice
 kindness
 knowledge
 labour
  lack (both)
 laughter
 leisure
 literature
 litter
 logic
 love (both)
 luck
 magic
 management
 metal (both)
 milk
 money
 motherhood
 motivation
 music

N-S Uncountable Nouns

 nature
 news
 nutrition
 obesity
 oil
 old age
 oxygen
 paper (both)
 patience
 permission
 pollution
 poverty
 power (both)
 pride
 production (both)
 progress
 pronunciation
  publicity
 punctuation
 quality (both)
 quantity (both)
 racism
 rain
 relaxation (both)
 research
 respect
 rice
 room (space)
 rubbish
 safety
 salt
 sand
 seafood
 shopping
 silence (both)
 smoke
 snow
 software
 soup (both)
 speed
 spelling
 stress
 sugar
 sunshine

T – Z Uncountable Nouns

 tea (both)
 tennis
 time (both)
 tolerance (both)
 trade (both)
 traffic
  transportation
 travel
 trust
 understanding (both)
 unemployment
 usage
 violence
 vision (both)
 warmth
 water
 wealth
 weather
 weight (both)
 welfare
 wheat
 width
 wildlife
 wisdom
 wood (both)
 work
 yoga
 youth (both)

Irregular Uncountable Nouns

Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable.

Room = has two meanings. One is countable and one is

uncountable.

 If this is about a room in a house, it is countable.

 If this is relating to space “there isn’t much room in this
place”, it is uncountable.

Hair = this can be countable and uncountable depending on

how you use it.
  “There is a hair in my soup”. This refers to only one
strand of hair and is countable.
 “He has a lot of hair”. This refers to the mass of hair and
is considered uncountable.

Business = this can be countable and uncountable.

 “He is going to Paris on business”. This is uncountable.

 “I will take my business elsewhere”. This is uncountable
and means I will take my custom to another shop.
 “He studies business at school”. This is uncountable.
 “I am planning to start a new business”. Countable.

This is a difficult one with a lot of exceptions. Here’s a link

with a list of rules for the word business / countable and
uncountable.

Other Irregular Uncountable Nouns

light / paper / time / work /

For details of irregular uncountable nouns, follow the link.

Practice with Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Fill in the gaps using one of the following: many / much / a
lot of.

1. …………. wildlife are losing their habitation due to

deforestation.
2. I haven’t heard ………. news about the recent events in
Europe.
3. There aren’t ………. sports lessons offered in the school
curriculum.
 4. I can’t go out to tonight because I’ve got ………… work.
5. It is often thought that people who have only traveled in
their own country don’t have ……………. tolerance for
others compared to people who have been abroad.
6. ………… literature that students read at school is classical.
7. ……….. education policies are designed to protect
students but ensure a high level of learning.

Answers

1. A lot of
2. much
3. many (“lessons” = countable)
4. a lot of
5. much
6. A lot of
7. Many (“policies” = countable)

Fill in the gaps with on of the following: is / are.

1. Silence ……… essential in libraries to ensure that people

can concentrate on what they are reading.
2. There ……. a lot of company advertising during major
sports events.
3. Shopping …….. one of the most popular leisure activities
for women.
4. There …….. a lot of information available online about
IELTS.
5. There ………. a lot of traffic in city centers during rush
hour.
6. There ……….. not enough money spent on research for
cancer.
7. Water …….. essential for plants to thrive.
 8. I think that childhood …….. one of the best times of a
person’s life.
9. The management procedures ……… difficult to
understand.
10. Not enough aid …. given to third world countries.

Answers

1. is
2. is
3. is
4. is
5. is
6. is
7. is
8. is
9. are
10. is