Types of Nouns:

Common &
Proper Nouns

Common Nouns
Common Nouns are any person,
place, or thing. Common nouns
are not capitalized.
The city
A policeman
That newspaper

Countableand un
countable
Nouns
A. Countable nouns are things
like people, animals, plants
(a boss, a dog), objects (a
desk, a
modem), or units of
measurement (a metre, a
Euro).

A. Uncountable nouns are things like

substances, materials, and
commodities (coal, cotton,coffee),
abstract ideas (progress), and
languages (Arabic). These are things
that we cannot count - we do not talk
about 'three informations', six
monies', etc.

When we use abstract nouns in

general, we do not use the.
wrong: * The happiness is hard to
measure.
right: Happiness is hard to measure.

Some other uncountable nouns which

sometimes cause difficulty are:
advice ,equipment, luggage ,progress
travel, accommodation furniture
machinery, research
trouble,advertising hardware money
room (= space) weather

Singular or plural?
Countable nouns can be singular or
plural. Uncountable nouns are singular:
The letter (countable, singular) is on your
desk and the two faxes (countable,
plural) are here.
This junk mail (uncountable, singular) is
very annoying.

Determiners
We use different determiners for
countable and uncountable nouns.
Countable Uncountable
I've got a book for you.
I haven't got many books for you.
I've got a few books for you

Uncountable:
I've got som e information for you. I
haven't got much information for you.
I've got a little information for you.

wrong: *He gave me an advice.

right: He gave me some advice.

Practice
Countable or uncountable?
In the following pairs of words, one is
countable and the other is uncountable.
Write some or a before each word.
1 A book
2 ..........................report
3 .......................... Desk
4 .......................... accommodation

5 .......................... chance
6 .......................... water
7 .......................... equipment
8.......................... Dollar
9.......................... cheque
10 .letter

Some literature
.news
.furniture
.hotel
.luck
.litre
.machine
.money
.cash

More practice
List the nouns in the following
sentences. The number in parentheses
indicates how many nouns are in the
sentence.
Socrates, the philosopher, often
argued with his followers about the
nature of truth and beauty.(6)
Algeria exports a large quantity of oil.
(3)

The carpenters made many

improvements in the old building.(3)
Mostaganem, a large town in the
north of algeria, used to be called
Mesk-El-Ghanaim. (5)
The student was impressed by the
kidness of the eminent professor.(3)