COUNT and NON-COUNT NOUNS

Nouns can be confusing for many ESL students; understanding nouns is very important because you often need to decide which article to use (a, an, or the).  The first thing to do is to figure out whether a noun can be counted—ask whether it can be divided into separate and distinct units:
 

Count Nouns                                                           Noncount Nouns 
  apple (one apple, two apples)                                   air
  girl (one girl, two girls)                                                 furniture
  dog (one dog, two dogs)                                            weather
                                                                                        (These nouns cannot be counted
                                                                                        using 1, 2, 3...etc.)

Here is a partial list of commonly used noncount nouns. Familiarize with the list:

FOOD AND DRINK:
bacon beef broccoli butter
cereal chocolate coffee spinach
fish fruit coffee cream
lettuce water candy sugar

NONFOOD ITEMS

air dirt gasoline plastic rain
silver snow soap wood paper

ABSTRACT NOUNS

anger jealousy beauty confidence fun
love poverty satisfaction truth wealth
intelligence honesty health courage happiness

OTHER

clothing equipment furniture homework jewelry
news weather violence traffic scenery
 

Most of the nouns in the above examples can be made plural by adding quantifiers:
a lot of love a pound of sugar a carton of milk
some tea  a slice of bread much snow
PRACTICE WITH COUNT/NONCOUNT NOUNS

Underline the correct count or noncount noun in the examples below:

Many (student, students) who attend McKendree come from a (variety, varieties) of countries.  McKendree includes students from countries such as Argentina, Kenya, Yugoslavia, Ireland, and Lithuania to name just a few.  International students often have many (concern, concerns) that American students do not have to face. On this (campus, campuses), it is easy for students to spend most of their free time with other students from their home countries.  This is not bad, but when a student's native language is not English, the  international (student, students) might not be practicing their (English, Englishes) as much as they might if they made American friends.

                      GET THE ANSWERS TO
THE COUNT/NONCOUNT NOUN  EXERCISE!