Common Example of Uncountable Nouns: Enhance Your English Grammar
Did you just say “a kilo of sugars”? Are you the one to get confused when you are asked the plural form of “advice”? Then this article is just for you.
One of the key grammar concepts that act as a stumbling block for most IELTS students is the idea of the countable and uncountable noun. Let us find out more about them.
What is an Uncountable Noun?
You know what a noun is and what it does. But an uncountable noun is a word that:
- Doesn’t have a plural form. (e.g. Information).
- Always denotes things in the plural. (e.g. Pants).
- Cannot be quantified by a number.
- Will never have the articles ‘a’ or ‘an’ before them.
Example
Mum told me to buy some rice.
In no version of reality will you ever find ‘rice’ as a plural form of ‘rice’. Words like rice, water, sugar do not need an extra ‘s’ to denote plurality, because they cannot be counted.
Countable/ count nouns, on the other hand, are all those words that have plural forms, thus can be counted. Like mangoes, apples, carrots etc.
Types of Uncountable Nouns
Most uncountable nouns indicate the following:
- Liquids (milk, water etc.)
- Abstract ideas (advice, chaos, motivation.)
- Grains and powder (rice, wheat, sand etc.)
- Mass nouns (furniture, hair, transportation.)
- Natural phenomena (sunshine, snow, rain, weather.)
- States of being (childhood, stress, sleep.)
- Feelings (anger, happiness, enthusiasm, courage.)
- Gas (air, oxygen etc.)
Pronouns and Questioning Adverbs Used for Uncountable Nouns
Pronouns and questioning adverbs are crucial in writing because you need to pair them with the correct form of noun such as count noun/ abstract noun/ collective noun etc. They greatly depend on whether the noun is singular or plural. In the case of uncountable nouns here is how you should use them:
- Uncountable nouns- How much?/ This/ a lot of/ not much.
- Countable nouns- How many?/ These/ Many/ not many.
In order to express a measure of uncountable noun we use words like:
- For clothing: A piece of clothing
- For information: A piece of information/ some information
- For water: A glass of water/ a gallon of water.
Examples of Uncountable Nouns Starting with A, B & C
Examples of Uncountable Nouns Starting with D, E & F
To know more Example of Uncountable Nouns, click here