Part 3 Nouns and Noun Groups
Singular and Plural, Count and Noncount Nouns
Examples
In English, my name means hope.
In Spanish, it means too many letters.
It means sadness, it means waiting.
(Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street)
Definition
Nouns in English can be classified as proper nouns and common nouns. Proper nouns are the names of specific things (people, places, products, languages, etc.) and are written with a capital letter. Common nouns are everything else.
This is a useful distinction, but for MLLs, it is important to further distinguish between two types of nouns: count nouns and noncount nouns. Consider the bolded nouns in the examples above:
We can say my name but not just name.
We say hope but not the hope.
We say many letters but not much letters.
We can say sadness but not easily sadnesses.
We often say in English, but we only talk about Englishes in technical linguistic contexts (e.g. there are different Englishes spoken in the US and the UK).
In the context of the sentences above, we can classify the nouns as follows:
|
|
Singular |
Plural |
|
Count |
name |
letters |
|
Noncount |
English Spanish hope sadness |
N/A |
Count nouns represent things that can be separated and counted – we can count names, letters, books, languages, students, trees, and people. Think about count nouns as a bundle of pencils.
Noncount nouns represent things that can’t be separated and counted because they don’t have a clear boundary – think about noncount nouns as water that flows and fills its container, rather than bottles that can be counted. We can’t easily count air, music, happiness, grass, health, knowledge, or information.
Form
There is nothing in the spelling or sound of the noun itself that helps you know it’s count or noncount. However, in the context of noun groups and clauses, count and noncount nouns have these properties:
|
Property |
Count nouns |
Noncount nouns |
|
Articles |
Use a/an with singular nouns |
Do not use a/an with singular nouns |
|
Plural |
Plural form |
No plural form |
|
Determiners |
Singular nouns must have a determiner |
Singular nouns do not need a determiner |
|
Quantifiers |
many, (a) few, each, every, a number of |
much, (a) little, a large amount of |
Here are some examples of these properties. Recall that an asterisk (*) indicates an unacceptable form.
|
Property |
Count nouns |
Noncount nouns |
|
Articles |
a name, an idea, a person |
*a sadness, *an information |
|
Plural |
names, ideas, people |
*sadnesses, *informations |
|
Determiners |
*name is Esperanza *I have idea |
It means sadness I have information |
|
Quantifiers |
many ideas, each name, a number of people |
a little sadness, too much information, a large amount of water |
One easy way that proficient users of English can test for countability is to ask how many or how much?
How many + count noun (how many names? how many ideas? how many people?)
How much + noncount noun (how much information? how much water?)
Careful!
Many noncount nouns have countable forms with a slightly different meaning. We can call these “double nouns.” Often, the noncount form is the abstract idea, and the count form means different types or specific examples of the noun. For example:
|
Noncount |
Count |
|
I don’t have time. |
I took the quiz three times. |
|
She doesn’t have any experience. |
My vacation was a great experience. |
|
People are afraid of change. |
We made some changes to the kitchen. |
|
Freedom of speech is a right. |
You are going to give a speech. |
Function
Count nouns are more common since they are used for concrete things. Linguists have identified key categories that make noncount nouns easier to remember:
Food (butter, bread, meat, fish, chicken)
Liquids (coffee, tea, water, milk, oil)
Ideas (honesty, faith, grammar)
Nature (lightning, rain, scenery)
Groups (furniture, equipment, food, vocabulary)
Source: K. Folse, Clear Grammar 1, 2nd edition (2010). University of Michigan Press.
Certain suffixes (word endings) are associated with noncount nouns, although there are inevitably exceptions:
|
Suffix |
Examples (noncount) |
Exceptions (count) |
|
–work |
homework, work, coursework |
a framework, a network, a work of art |
|
-age |
courage, luggage, baggage, garbage |
a garage |
|
-edge |
knowledge |
|
|
-ice |
ice, advice, juice, practice |
|
|
-ware |
hardware, software, silverware |
|
|
-th |
health, wealth, strength, truth, youth |
a youth (=a young person), a myth |
|
-ance/ence -ness -(s/t)ure -(i)ty/cy |
chance, tolerance, competence happiness, hopelessness moisture, closure honesty, cruelty, gravity |
a chance (=opportunity), a measure |
|
-ing |
reading, smoking, drinking |
|
|
-fare |
welfare, warfare |
|
Source: Caplan, 2012, p. 92, adapted from Hinkel, 2004, p. 106
Further Reading
Count nouns (LearnEnglish)
Uncount nouns (LearnEnglish)
Common problems with count and uncount nouns (LearnEnglish)
