IELTS Grammar: Countable and uncountable nouns

The noun is one of the key components of English grammar. Without nouns, you will be able to communicate virtually nothing as all you will have left are verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

Read on and learn about the various aspects of countable and uncountable nouns.

What are Countable and Uncountable Nouns?

Countable nouns are things that can be counted by an average person, even if the number turns out to be extremely large. For example, counting all the Peas in a bag. Countable nouns could be used with articles like a or an and the, as well as quantifiers like a few and many.

For positive sentences, we can use a/an for singular nouns or some for plurals.

There's a man at the door.
I have some friends in New York.

For negatives, we can use a/an for singular nouns or any for plurals.

I don't have a dog.
There aren't any seats.

Uncountable nouns are things that humans cannot count, or more precisely, count without the help of any external instrument. The best example here is water or anything that exhibits the properties of liquids. The list of examples even extends to abstract ideas like creativity or imagination. Uncountable nouns are always regarded as singular which can be used alone and with some, any, a little, and a much.

We use some with uncountable nouns in positive sentences and some with negatives.

There's some milk in the fridge.
There isn't any coffee.

Hope this helps!