how to distinguish countable and uncountable nouns.especially slangs
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Answers · 2
1
you can ask how much uncountable , how many countable
for example sugar,breath, uncountable, car,orange,computer countable
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A noun can be countable or uncountable. Countable nouns can be "counted", they have a singular and plural form .
For example:
A book, two books, three books .....
An apple, two apples, three apples ....
Uncountable nouns (also called mass nouns or noncount nouns) cannot be counted, they are not seperate objects. This means you cannot make them plural by adding -s, because they only have a singular form. It also means that they do not take a/an or a number in front of them.
For example: Water, Work, Information, Coffee, or Sand
The notion of countable and uncountable can be confusing. Some nouns can be countable or uncountable depending on their meaning. Usually a noun is uncountable when used in a general, abstract meaning (when you don't think of it as a separate object) and countable when used in a particular meaning (when you can think of it as a separate object).
For example:-
glass - A glass of water. (Countable) | A window made of glass. (Uncountable)
Some supposedly uncountable nouns can behave like countable nouns if we think of them as being in containers, or one of several types.
This is because 'containers' and 'types' can be counted.
Believe it or not each of these sentences is correct:-
Doctors recommend limiting consumption to two coffees a day.
(Here coffees refers to the number of cups of coffee)
You could write; "Doctors recommend limiting consumption to two cups of coffee a day."
The coffees I prefer are Arabian and Brazilian.
(Here coffees refers to different types of coffee)
You could write; "The types of coffee I prefer are Arabian and Brazilian."
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