Making uncountable nouns countable
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| a drop of water | two coats of varnish | some items of luggage | a piece of furniture |
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Look at the phrases under the picture and they will tell you what is in
this lesson. Here, we look at some ways to make uncountable nouns countable by adding a classifier like a drop, a coat, an item and a piece. Look at these words and decide which ones are countable and which ones are uncountable. To remind you, for example: In English, milk is uncountable so we can't say Please give me three milks or Can I have many milks?: that's WRONG. and we must say Can I have some milk? We can say Can I have a glass of milk? and that is what this lesson is about. |
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Task 1:
Which of these words are countable (like cup or window) and
which are uncountable (like sugar, water and
milk)? Click on the table when you have your list. |
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Task 2: Now look
carefully at the
words in blue in the
list and think. Ask yourself: In my language can I make a plural of these words? For example, can you say two informations or three furnitures? You can't do that in English. |
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Now let's see how we make all the uncountable nouns countable by putting
in an XXXXXX of __________ |
| a glass of milk | a pint of milk | a litre of milk etc. |
| a piece / item / bit of information | a grain of sand | a piece / item / bit of furniture |
| a piece / item / bit of baggage | an act of kindness | a bit of happiness |
| a bar of soap | a ball of string | a piece / bit of music |
| a cloud of smoke | a game of soccer | a jar of marmalade |
| a sheet / lump of ice | a bit of help | a lump of coal |
There are two types of words that we use to say a XXXXXX of something:
- General words: piece, item, bit:
These words can go with many nouns like butter, furniture, music etc. but not all of them. For other nouns we need: - Special words to go with the type of thing we are talking
about. Like this:
ball of + lines: string, wool etc. bar of things sold in square blocks: soap, chocolate etc. cloud of gases, chemicals etc.: dust, smoke, poison, fumes etc. coat of coverings: paint, varnish etc. drop of liquids: perfume, oil, paint, blood etc. flash of lights and colours: light, green etc. game of games and sports: chess, cricket, tennis etc. grain of small pieces of material: dust, salt, sand, sugar etc. jar of things kept in glass containers: jam, cream, marmalade, pickles etc. lump of irregularly shaped materials: coal, concrete, iron etc. measures specific ones for length, square measures, liquids etc.: gallon, mile, hectare etc. portion of all types of food: vegetables, meat, fish etc. sheet of thin materials: glass, paper, ice etc. slice of certain types of food: cake, pizza, bread, sausage, banana etc.
No, it's not very easy!
If you don't know the correct words the say a little
______________ and you will usually be right!