Countable vs. Uncountable Nouns
Uncountable Nouns
Unlike countable nouns, uncountable nouns have no plural form and occur alone
without an indefinite article when not referring to a specific instance of the noun:
Ø Nanotechnology offers both an opportunity and a challenge to the scientific community.
Ø Information about the mechanical properties of nanotubes has recently been studied using thermal vibrations.
TYPES OF UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
There are six main classes of uncountable nouns:
- Mass
Nouns that represent substances, such as liquids, metals, and gases, that lack a clearly defined shape or form.
(water, salt, hazordous waste, gasoline, radiation, steel, CO2)
- Collective (Non-count)
Nouns that refer to a group but are singular in form and take the singular form of the verb.
(
knowledge, luggage, information, furniture, baggage, weather, equipment, machinery, traffic,
money, news, homework, hair, advice, rubbish, damage, cutlery, documentation, scenery)
- Abstract concepts
Nouns that represent abstract concepts.
(heat, energy, friction, pressure, quality, performance, efficiency, technology, electricity )
- Processes and actions
Nouns that represent processes or actions.
(evaporation, recycling, production, transportation, storage)
- Field of study
Nouns that describe fields of study.
(engineering, chemistry, thermodynamics, mathematics, physics)
- Diseases and medical conditions
Nouns that describe diseases and medical conditions.
(Cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's Disease, arthritis, dyslexia)
QUANTIFIERS
The following quantifiers commonly occur with uncountable nouns:
much, a large amount of, considerable, no, not much, a little, little.
Much work has been carried out in this field.
A significant amount of work has been carried out in this field.
Little work has been carried out in this field.
No work has been carried out in this field.
Be careful to not confuse the quantifiers "little" with "a little"; they have opposite meanings. The first is negative, while the second is positive in meaning.
In addition, "a little" is considered by many careful writers to be somewhat too informal for academic writing and is usually replaced by "some" instead.
 |
Staff are expected to do little research outside their normal work. ( = almost none )
Staff are expected to do a little research outside their normal work. ( = some )
|
|
Press the button below to read about "two-way" nouns—nouns that can act as either countable or uncountable.
|