Page 121 - DENG101_Communication Skills-I

Communication Skills-I

Notes In this unit we look at:

1. Countable Nouns
2. Uncountable Nouns
3. Nouns that can be Countable & Uncountable
Let us understand each of them one by one.

11.2.1 Countable Nouns

Countable nouns are things that we can count. Obviously, we can recognize them very easily.

Example: “pencil”.
We can count pencils. We can have one, two, three or more pencils.
More examples can be:
1. Cat, animal, man, person

2. Bottle, box, litre
3. Coin, note, dollar
4. Cup, plate, fork
5. Table, chair, suitcase, bag

Countable nouns can be singular or plural:

Examples: 1. My cat is playing.
2. My cats are hungry.

We can use the indefinite article a/an with countable nouns:

Example: A cat is an animal.
When a countable noun is singular, we must use a word like a/the/my/this with it:

Examples: 1. I ate an orange. (not I ate orange.)
2. Where is your bottle? (not Where is bottle?)

When a countable noun is plural, we can use it alone:

Examples: 1. I like oranges.
2. Bottles can be of glass.

We can use some and any with countable nouns:

Examples: 1. I’ve got some notes.
2. Have you got any pencils?

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