70. Countable and Uncountable 2 ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN USE FOR INTERMEDIATE

                    ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN USE FOR INTERMEDIATE

70. Countable and Uncountable 2

A

Many nouns can be used as countable or uncountable nouns, usually with a difference in meaning. Compare: Countable Uncountable ·         Did you hear a noise just now? (=a specific noise) ·         I bought a paper to read. (=a newspaper) ·         There's a hair in my soup! (=one single hair) ·         You can stay with us. There's a spare room. (=a room in a house) ·         I had some interesting experiences while I was travelling. (=things that happened to me) ·         Enjoy your trip. Have a good time! ·         I can't work here. There's too much noise. (=noise in general) ·         I need some paper to write on. (=material for writing on) ·         You've got very long hair. (not hairs) (=all the hair on your head) ·         You can't sit here. There isn't room. (=space) ·         They offered me the job because I had a lot of experience. (not experiences) ·         I can't wait. I don't have time. Coffee/tea/juice/beer etc. (drinks) are normally uncountable: ·         I don't like coffee very much. But you can say a coffee(= a cup of coffee), two coffees (=two cups) etc. : ·         Two coffees and an orange juice, please.

B

The following nouns are usually uncountable: accommodation behaviour damage luck permission traffic advice bread furniture luggage progress weather baggage chaos information news scenery work You cannot use a/an with these nouns: ·         I'm going to buy some bread.           Or              ... a loaf of bread. (not a bread) ·         Enjoy your holiday! I hope you have good weather. (not a good weather) These nouns are not usually plural (so we do not say ‘breads', 'furnitures' etc.): ·         Where are you going to put all your furniture? (not furnitures) ·         Let me know if you need more information. (not informations) News is uncountable, not plural: ·         The news was very depressing. (not The news were) Travel (noun) means ~travelling in general' (uncountable). We do not say ‘a travel' to mean a trip or a journey: ·         They spend a lot of money on travel. ·         We had a very good trip/journey. (not a good travel) Compare these countable and uncountable nouns: Countable Uncountable ·         I'm looking for a job. ·         What a beautiful view! ·         it's a nice day today. ·         We had a lot of bags and cases. ·         These chairs are mine. ·         That's a good suggestion. ·         I'm looking for work. (not a work) ·         What beautiful scenery! ·         It's nice weather today. ·         We had a lot of baggage/luggage. ·         This furniture is mine. ·         That's good advice.

EXERCISES

70.1	Which of the underlined parts of these sentences is correct? 1 'Did you hear noise /a noise just now?' 'No, I didn't hear anything.' (a noise is correct) 2 a.        If you want to know the news, you can read paper /a paper. b.       I want to print some documents, but the printer is out of paper /papers. 3 a.        Light /A light comes from the sun. b.       I thought there was somebody in the house because there was light /a light on inside. 4 a.        I was in a hurry this morning. I didn't have time /a time for breakfast. b.       'Did you have a good holiday?' 'Yes, we had wonderful time /a wonderful time.' 5 This is nice room /a nice room. Did you decorate it yourself? 6 Sue was very helpful. She gave us some very useful advice /advices. 7 Did you have nice weather /a nice weather when you were away? 8 We were very unfortunate. We had bad luck /a bad luck. 9 Is it difficult to find a work /job at the moment? 10 Our travel /journey from Paris to Moscow by train was very tiring. 11 When the fire alarm rang, there was total chaos /a total chaos. 12 I had to buy a bread /some bread because I wanted to make some sandwiches. 13 Bad news don't /doesn't make people happy. 14 Your hair is /Your hairs are too long. You should have it I them cut. 15 The damage /The damages caused by the storm will cost a lot to repair.
70.2	Complete the sentences using the following words. Use the plural (-s) where necessary. advice chair experience experience furniture hair information job luggage permission progress work 1 I didn't have much ____ luggage____ just two small bags. 2 They'll tell you all you want to know. They'll give you plenty of ___________ 3 There is room for everybody to sit down. There are plenty of ___________ 4 We have no ___________, not even a bed or a table. 5 'What does Alan look like?' 'He's got a long beard and very short ___________ 6 Carla's English is better than it was. She's made ___________ 7 Mike is unemployed. He can't get a ___________ 8 Mike is unemployed. He can't get ___________ 9 If you want to leave early, you have to ask for ___________ 10 I didn't know what to do. So I asked Chris for ___________ 11 I don't think Dan should get the job. He doesn't have enough ___________ 12 Nicola has done many interesting things. She could write a book about her ___________
70.3	What do you say in these situations? Use a word from Section B (luggage, weather etc.) in each sentence. 1 Your friends have just arrived at the station. You can't see any cases or bags. You ask them: ____ Do you have any luggage________? 2 You go into the tourist office. You want to know about places to see in the town. You say: I'd like ______________________________________. 3 You are a student. You want your teacher to advise you about which courses to do. You say: Can you give me ______________________________________? 4 You want to watch the news on TV, but you don't know when it is on. You ask your friend: What time ______________________________________? 5 You are at the top of a mountain. You can see a very long way. It's beautiful. You say: It ______________________________________, isn’t it? 6 You look out of the window. The weather is horrible: cold, wet and windy. You say: What ______________________________________!

ANSWER KEY