Countable and Uncountable Nouns: Word List

This article will teach you what countable and uncountable nouns are and how you can use them to write good sentences in English. This article will be useful for those who are preparing for the IELTS exam. We have also given a list of countable and uncountable nouns that you refer to while practicing for the IELTS test.

IELTS is a test to measure your skills in the English language. So it is important to know how to use the nouns properly in each sentence. In this test, your vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure will be checked to provide your scores. In this article, you will learn about Countable and Uncountable Nouns to improve your IELTS Vocabulary.

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Table of Contents

What are Countable and Uncountable Nouns?

Types of Countable and Uncountable Nouns?

Countable and Uncountable Nouns: Grammar

Countable and Uncountable Nouns List

Examples of Countable Nouns

Examples of Uncountable Nouns

How to Identify Countable and Uncountable Nouns?

What is the Difference Between Countable and Uncountable Nouns?

Pronouns or Questioning Adverbs used for Uncountable Nouns 

Irregular Uncountable Nouns

Practice with Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Conclusion

FAQs on Countable and Uncountable Nouns

What are Countable and Uncountable Nouns?

Countable nouns are those nouns that we can count in numbers. For example; one dog, two dogs. These nouns have a singular and a plural form. The singular form of the nouns uses determiners like “a” or “an” before the noun. 

Uncountable nouns are nouns that cannot be counted. For example; music. We cannot count music. We cannot express these nouns in a plural form. We cannot quantify these nouns to be expressed in numbers.

Types of Countable and Uncountable Nouns? 

Types of Countable Nouns - 

• Animals (dog, cat, animal, man, person)
• Things (bottle, box) 
• Measuring units (litre, kg, gallon)
• Money (coin, note, dollar)
• Utensils (cup, plate, fork)
• Accessories (suitcase, bag)
• Fruits (Apple, Orange, Banana)
• Vehicles (Car, Bike, bus)
• Appliances (Laptop, phone, watch)
• Clothes (Shirt, trousers, pants)

Types of Uncountable Nouns - 

• energy (heat, cold, light, sunshine, radiation)
• liquids (milk, water)
• Data and abstracts (advice, chaos, motivation)
• solids, powder and grain (rice, wheat, sand)
• mass nouns (furniture, hair, transportation)
• natural phenomena (sunshine, snow, rain, weather)
• states of being (sleep, stress, childhood)
• feelings (anger, happiness, enthusiasm, courage)
• gas (oxygen, air)
• subjects (English, economics, maths, science)

Countable and Uncountable Nouns: Grammar

While using countable and uncountable nouns it is also important to take care of grammar while writing or speaking. We will show you examples of how to use grammar correctly while using countable and uncountable nouns.

1. How many…? (countable) How much… ? (uncountable)
Eg. How many apples are there?
How much space do we have?

2. These… (countable) This… (uncountable)
Eg. These dogs can sprint.
This weather looks bad.

3. A few… (countable) Any… (uncountable)
Eg. I have a few dollars left.
I don't have any curry left.

4. a/an… (countable) some… (uncountable)
Eg. I want an orange.
I want some orange juice.

Countable and Uncountable Nouns List

In the sections below you will find the Countable and Uncountable Nouns List. We have provided a few examples of nouns starting from a to z.

Examples of Countable Nouns

• actor
• aunt
• ball
• book
• boy
• burger
• camp
• castle
• child
• class
• cousin
• day
• effect
• factory
• film
• fork
• grandfather
• group
• hospital
• issue
• kilometer
• liter
• meal
• mile
• mistake
• picture
• plate
• program
• river
• school
• shirt
• sister
• son
• station
• stream
• toothbrush
• town
• village
• week
• yard

Examples of Uncountable Nouns

• advertising
• aid
• art
• assistance
• Blood
• business
• cash
• content
• Crockery
• damage
• Dancing
• data
• Dignity
• electricity
• energy
• equipment
• Expense
• Failure
• fame
• flour
• furniture
• genetics
• gold
• grammar
• Grief
• Gymnastics
• happiness
• heat
• homework
• humour
• importance
• innocence
• jealousy
• justice
• kindness
• knowledge
• lack
• laughter
• litter
• luck
• magic
• Marble
• milk
• motivation
• Nature
• Nutrition
• Passion
• Petrol
• Pressure
• Rain
• Shame
• Soap
• Spite
• Stress
• Sunshine
• Tea
• traffic
• unemployment
• usage
• violence
• warmth
• welfare
• wisdom
• yoga

How to Identify Countable and Uncountable Nouns?

There are entities that can be counted and some that cannot be counted. Determine whether the noun can be expressed as a single entity or not. Check whether the noun has a single or plural form. If the noun does not have a single and plural form it is an uncountable noun. Only those entities that can be counted in numbers are countable nouns and the rest are uncountable nouns.

What is the Difference Between Countable and Uncountable Nouns? 

Now let us see some of the main differences between countable and uncountable nouns.

Countable Nouns	Uncountable Nouns
They can be expressed in numbers	Cannot be expressed in numbers
Has both singular and plural forms	Do not have plural form
Can be changed to plural	Cannot be changed to plural
Uses the “how many” form	Uses the “how much” form

Pronouns and Questioning Adverbs used for Uncountable Nouns

To make good sentences it is important to use pronouns and questioning adverbs in the right form. See examples of how pronouns and questioning adverbs are used for uncountable nouns:

How much?/ This/ a lot of/ not much.

Uncountable nouns are usually expressed like:

• A piece of information/ some information
• A lot of snow
• There isn't much rice.
• Can I have a glass of water?
• How much data is left?

Irregular Uncountable Nouns

There are some nouns that can be both countable and uncountable. We can call them irregular uncountable nouns. Let's learn this topic with some examples: 

Space

• Leave two spaces between the words (countable)
• You don't have space to sit here. (uncountable)

Light

• Switch on two lights in the other room. (countable)
• There is no light in this room. (uncountable)

Coffee

• I need two coffees. (countable)
• I like coffee (uncountable)

English

• I know a few English men (countable)
• I know English (uncountable)

Chicken

• There are 5 chickens at my home. (uncountable)
• The chicken is tasty (uncountable)

Practice with Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Write down whether these nouns are countable (C) or uncountable (U).

1. The children are playing in the garden. 

1. I don't like milk. 
2. I prefer tea. 
3. Scientists say that the environment is threatened by pollution. 
4. My mother uses butter to prepare cakes. 

Fill in the gaps using one of the following: many/much/a lot of.

6. I haven’t heard ………. news about the cyclone in India.
7. There aren’t ………. dance classes offered in the university curriculum.
8. I cannot go out today because I’ve got ………… work.
9. It is often said that men who have only traveled in their own country don’t have ……………. tolerance for others compared to people who have traveled abroad.
10. ………… literature that children read at school is fictional.

Answers: 

1. C
2. U
3. U
4. C
5. U
6. much
7. many
8. a lot of
9. much
10. A lot of

Recommended Pages: 

IELTS Listening
IELTS Reading
IELTS Speaking
IELTS Writing Task 1
IELTS Writing Task 2
IELTS Band Score

Conclusion

The knowledge of “countable and uncountable nouns” is very important for good communication of the English language. So learning to use these nouns properly will help you prepare for the IELTS exam.

FAQs on Countable and Uncountable Nouns

1. What type of noun is countable?

Those nouns that you can count using numbers are countable nouns. You can see that such nouns will have a plural form. Eg - Bottle, Bottles.

2. Which type of noun is uncountable?

Nouns that are considered a whole or that can not be counted are called uncountable nouns. Such nouns cannot be changed into a plural form. Eg - Knowledge.

3. What is the easiest way to distinguish between countable and uncountable nouns?

You can either see whether the noun can be counted or see if it has any plural forms. Countable nouns will have singular and plural forms, unlike uncountable nouns.

4. Is “information” a countable or uncountable noun? 

Information is an uncountable noun. Therefore you will say, “The information is” and not “The information are”.

5. Can a noun be both countable and uncountable? 

Yes, some nouns can be both countable and uncountable. They are called irregular nouns. Hair, room, and time are examples of irregular nouns. Uncountable nouns can be made countable by adding a measuring unit like kilometer, litre, etc in the sentence.