October 14, 2015
common problems with count/uncount nouns
1: Uncount nouns used as count nouns
Although substances are usually uncount nouns...
Would you like some cheese?
Coffee keeps me awake at night.
Wine makes me sleep.
... they can be also used as count nouns:
| I’d like a coffee please. | = | I’d like a [cup of] coffee. |
| May I have a white wine. | = | May I have a [glass of] white wine. |
| They sell a lot of coffees. | = | They sell a lot of [different kinds of] coffee. |
| I prefer white wines to red. | = | I prefer [different kinds of] white wine to red. |
| They had over twenty cheeses on sale. | = | They had over twenty [types of] cheese on sale. |
| This is an excellent soft cheese. | = | This [kind of] soft cheese is excellent. |
2: Some nouns have both a count and an uncount form:
We should always have hope.
George had hopes of promotion.
Travel is a great teacher.
Where did you go on your travels?
3: Nouns with two meanings
Some nouns have two meanings, one count and the other non count:
His life was in danger.
There is a serious danger of fire.
Linguistics is the study of language.
Is English a difficult language?
It’s made of paper.
The Times is an excellent paper.
Other words like this are:
| business | death | industry | marriage | power | property |
| tax | time | victory | use | work |
4: Uncount nouns that end in -s
Some uncount nouns end in -s so they look like plurals even though they are singular nouns.
These nouns generally refer to:
| Subjects of study: | mathematics, physics, economics, etc. |
|---|---|
| Activities: | gymnastics, athletics, etc. |
| Games: | cards, darts, billiards, etc. |
| Diseases: | mumps, measles, rabies, etc. |
Economics is a very difficult subject.
Billiards is easier than pool or snooker.
5: Group nouns
Some nouns, like army, refer to groups of people, animals or things, and we can use them either as singular nouns or as plural nouns.
| army | audience | committee | company | crew | enemy |
| family | flock | gang | government | group | herd |
| media | public | regiment | staff | team |
We can use these group nouns either as singular nouns or as plural nouns:
- My family is very dear to me.
I have a large family. They are very dear to me. (= The members of my family…) - The government is very unpopular.
The government are always changing their minds.
Sometimes we think of the group as a single thing:
- The audience always enjoys the show.
- The group consists of two men and three women.
Sometimes we think of the group as several individuals;
- The audience clapped their hands.
- The largest group are the boys.
The names of many organisations and teams are also group nouns, but they are usually plural in spoken English:
- Barcelona are winning 2-0.
- The United Oil Company are putting prices up by 12%.
6: Two-part nouns
A few plural nouns, like binoculars, refer to things that have two parts.
| glasses | jeans | knickers | pincers | pants | pliers |
| pyjamas | scissors | shorts | spectacles | tights | trainers |
| trousers | tweezers |
These binoculars were very expensive
Those trousers are too long.
To make it clear we are talking about one of these items, we use a pair of …
I need a new pair of spectacles.
I’ve bought a pair of blue jeans.
If we want to talk about more than one, we use pairs of … :
We’ve got three pairs of scissors, but they are all blunt.
I always carry two pairs of binoculars.
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Comments
Does the word "people" requires to be always followed by a plural verb? or can it be used sporadically with a singular verb? For example "People is defined using adjectives as intelligent, ......"
Thanks
Hello Mayela,
Other than when talking about 'people' as a word, e.g. ''people' is a noun' or in the sentence you cite, I can't think of any instance in which 'people' is treated as singular in English. As I'm sure you've noticed, it's different from Spanish, and it's a difficult thing to remember – many of my students here make this error frequently. It's not a serious error, but using it correctly will definitely make your English sound better, at least to most native speakers.
Best wishes,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Dear BC team,
as for the two-part nouns. We cannot count them. We cannot say 2 sunglasses/jeans/pyjamas/shorts etc. However, we can count them with "pairs of", we can say 2/5/20 pairs of sunglasses/jeans/pyjamas/shorts/scissors. What about quantifiers? Is it grammatically correct to say many/a lot of/plenty of sunglasses/jeans/pyjamas/shorts/scissors? Or do I have to say many/a lot of/plenty of pairs of sunglasses/jeans/pyjamas/shorts/scissors?
Thank you very much for your answer.
Radovan
P.S. You are doing a great job here.
Hello Radovan,
Strictly speaking, you should probably say the latter ('plenty of pairs of jeans'), but I've certainly used the other forms myself, as well as heard plenty of other people use them.
Best wishes,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Why do we say "many tiny" instead of "too little" or "too small" ?
For example; "many tiny strands"
Hello ASdfghjklove,
'Many tiny strands' has a different meaning. It means 'a lot of small strands'. 'Too little' or 'too small' have different meanings.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Please clarify the sentences below:
1. Is it right to say "This scissors is blunt"? Or do we say "These scissors or this pair of scissors is blunt"?
2. Also, do we say "The government are in crisis?" OR "The government is in crisis?"
Thanks in advance.
Hello urekharao,
'Scissors' is a plural noun and so both the verb and the determiner should be plural in your sentence. You can say either of the following:
These scissors are blunt.
This pair of scissors is blunt.
'The government' can be singular or plural - both are correct. If we are thinking of 'the government' as a collection of individuals then we use a plural form; if we are thinking of the institution then we use a singular form. It is entirely up to the speaker.
Best wishes,
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Team,
I need to understand that, from the following, which ones have correct form of noun(Singular/Plural):
1. These buildings are made of bricks and stones.
Or,
These buildings are mde of brick and stone.
2. She had gone to buy fruits.
Or,
She had gone to buy fruit.
Also, I would request you suggest that whether we have list of Singular/Plural nous on this site.
Thanks in advance..
Manoj
Hello Manoj,
You can use the dictionary to look up singular and plural forms of nouns – see the searchbox under Cambridge Dictionaries Online on the lower right side of this and most pages. All four sentences are correct but mean slightly different things. 1a is used to refer to the quantity of bricks and stones and 1b refers more to the material the buildings are made of. It's a subtle difference. 2a means that she's going to buy different kinds of fruit and 2b is less specific – it could be all one kind of fruit or different kinds. I'd suggest you look up 'fruit' in the dictionary to see what I mean. [C] means it's a count noun and [UC] means it's an uncount noun.
Best wishes,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
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