May 6th, 2023

Welcome!
Universidad Popular Autónoma de Veracruz
Licenciatura en Diseño Gráfico
Inglés II
Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto
Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
At the supermarket
When you go to the supermarket what do
you usually buy?

Write your own shopping list. Then search with the

class.

Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto

Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
What is this?
1.- Match the words to the pictures (1-20)

Cheese Chicken Chips Eggs Fish Juice Lamb

Lemons Lentils Nuts Onions Oranges
Pasta Pepper Peppers Potatoes Shrimps Raisins
Rice Salt

Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto

Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
What is a noun?
In English grammar, words that refer to
people, places, or things are
called nouns. They can be classified in
many ways.

Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto

Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
This is not a noun
RUN (VERB)

BIG (ADJECTIVE)

ON (PREPOSITION)

Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto

Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
One way to classify nouns is
according to whether they can be
counted or not. 

Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto

Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
Countable nouns
Most nouns have singular and
plural forms. They are A magazing/5 magazines
countable nouns.

e.g. One letter, two letters

An apple/5 apples
There is a letter on the table for
you. (singular)

A car/5 cars
There are letters on the table for
you. (plural)

Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto

Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
a/an (the indefinite article)
We use A/AN with: Singular nouns and the first time we refer to a
person, animal or thing.
a child
an elephant
A is used when the next word begins with a consonant sound (b, c,
d, f, g, h, j, k etc).
a book
a table
a university

AN is used when the next word begins with a vowel sound (a, e, i,
o, u).
an apple
an elephant
an umbrella
an hour

Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto

Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
 I need a hat.

They live in a cottage.

He bought a laptop

It was an earthquake.

He is an actor.

Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto

Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
 Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto
Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
Uncountable nouns
Some nouns only have one form.
They are uncountable nouns.

e.g. Money, water, milk, time, sand, sugar…

There is no milk in the fridge.

There is a lot of money in my bank
account.

Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto

Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
You can't use an article with an uncountable noun.
e.g. time, sand, electricity.
We need electricity to use our heater.
I lost track of time and we stayed up very late.
The beaches in Brazil have very nice sand.

It is very common in English to use some / any

with plural nouns and uncountable nouns
e.g. They don't listen to any advice.
We don't have any toys for the children.
There are many  lessons  in life, this is just
one more.
It is important to have some  knowledge  of
grammar.

Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto

Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
 Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto
Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
Quantifiers

A quantifier is a word that usually

goes before a noun to express the
quantity of the object; for example, a
little milk.

Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto

Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns

Many, much, a lot (of)
We use many, much, a lot (of) to refer to big quantities.
We use ‘many’ with countable nouns and ‘much’ with
uncountable nouns, and we can use ‘a lot (of)’ with both
countable and uncountable nouns.
In modern English it is very common to use ‘a lot (of)’ in
affirmative sentences instead of ‘many’ and ‘much’
There are many things to do today.
We have a lot of time left, don’t worry.
Much Italian wine is sold abroad.
A few/few, a little/little
To talk about small quantities we can use ‘a few’ and ‘a
little’.
We use ‘a few’ with countable nouns and ‘a little’ with
uncountable nouns.
They ate a few biscuits with their tea.
The engine needs a little oil.
When we want to refer to a small quantity with a negative
sense, we use ‘few’ and ‘little’ without ‘a’.
Few trains arrive on time. (A small number of trains arrive on
train which is a  bad thing.)
Little attention  is given to the problem of parking.  (A small
amount of attention is given to this problem and it’s not good.)
Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto
Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
 Note
Some, any
As is common in English, there is an exception to this rule.
When we want to refer to a plural noun or an uncountable When we make requests and offers, we usually use ‘some’
noun, without giving a specific quantity, we use ‘some’ instead of ‘any’.
and ‘any’.
For example:
We use ‘some’ in affirmatives
Can I have some water please?
There is some milk (+)
Would you like some chocolates?
‘any’ in questions and negatives.

There isn’t any water (-)

Is there any milk?

Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto

Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
 Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto
Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
Is
everything
clear so
far?
Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto
Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns
 Thank you for
joining today's
lesson!

Teacher: Eliezer C. Soto

Topic: Countable and uncountable nouns