A noun can be countable and uncountable. You can use numbers and a/an before countable nouns. For countable nouns learn the following table:
| a/ an + countable nouns | numbers + countable nouns |
a car
|
two cars
|
a hat
|
five hats
|
a flower
|
6 flowers
|
a house
|
three houses
|
Before countable nouns you may use the words 'many' and 'a lot of': many books, many copy-books, a lot of desks.
There are some examples for uncountable nouns: water, rain, air, rice, salt, oil, plastic, money, music, tennis.
- You may not use numbers with uncountable nouns. It means you may not say like 'one water' or 'two salt'.
- You may not use a/an with uncountable nouns. It means you may not
say like 'a water' or 'a music'.
Remember: Uncountable nouns have only one form. You may not add -s or -es at the end of the uncountable noun. It means you may not write like this: two moneys, a lot of salts.
If you want the uncountable nouns to make countable you may use the words 'a piece of.../ a bottle of ..../ a cup of...'.
| Uncountable | Countable |
cheese
|
a piece of cheese - two pieces
of cheese
|
rice
|
a bowl of rice - three bowls of
rice
|
music
|
a piece of music - some pieces
of music
|
water
|
a glass of water - two glasses
of water
|
