Countable and Uncountable Nouns - Basic English Grammar

hi everybody my name is alicia in this lesson i'm going to talk about some nouns that can be used in countable and uncountable ways i'm going to introduce the noun the different meanings for the noun and also a few example sentences so let's get started okay first i want to start on this side of the board i'm focusing over here on food so we're going to talk about some very common food related nouns that can be countable or uncountable let's start with fruit fruit so let's look at the uncountable meaning first and then the countable meaning second so fruit as an uncountable noun means food from a plant so this is food usually with seeds inside or food that comes from a seed of some kind or it's like the fruit is the seed of a plant so this is generally known as fruit fruit the uncountable meaning for example do you like fruit do you like fruit so this is the uncountable sense of the word as a countable noun fruit means a specific type of fruit for example many fruits grow in warm climates so warm climates means a place that has a warm temperature around the year or year round so many fruits that means many different types of food from a plant many different kinds of these many different examples of fruit grow in warm climates so this means any food that grows in a warm climate or any fruit that grows in a warm climate so we're talking about a specific type when we use it as a countable noun so some people might prefer like um fruits that are very sweet or some people prefer fruits that are very sour so you might want to talk about kind of categories or very as i said specific types to do that you can use fruit as a countable noun okay the next one is meat meat so as a countable noun i'm sorry as an uncountable noun meat means food from a cow or a pig or a chicken so food that comes from an animal the parts of an animal we make food from the parts of the animal so for example she doesn't eat meat so in this sense as an uncountable noun it means the food that comes from the parts of an animal so it's made from the flesh of an animal as a countable noun again just like with fruit and fruits as a countable noun meat refers to a specific type of meat a specific kind of meat for example some meats are healthier than others some meats are healthier than others so that means inside the category of meat some types of meat or instead of saying types of meat we say some meats are healthier than others so that might mean for example like chicken or maybe lean beef those things are healthier than pork for example i don't know but this is how we would use meat as a countable noun to refer to a category or a specific group a specific type inside meat we use it as a countable noun okay on to the next one the next one is chicken chicken so yes i did mention that chicken is a type of meat but we also use chicken alone as an uncountable noun it means meat from a chicken meat from a chicken where a chicken as we'll talk about in a moment is a bird so when we use it as an uncountable noun we use it to talk about just the meat that comes from the bird for example let's get chicken for dinner let's get chicken for dinner so this is as an uncountable noun chicken when we use it as a countable noun it refers to a bird raised for eggs and meat so this is the animal in other words when we say a chicken or the chickens it refers to the animal so that's used as a countable noun for example our family has three chickens our family has three chickens we have to use the plural form here chickens because we have three of them so this is using it as a countable noun to refer to the bird this is as an uncountable noun it refers to the food so this is a key difference between chicken and a chicken okay on to the next one the next one next two really are kind of groups the first one this is all for drinks so i've labeled this drink because we can use the same pattern for all of these things so beer coffee tea water juice whatever all of these things we can use them as uncountable nouns to just mean a drink for example we drink a lot of coffee so this coffee just means in general as a type of drink as a kind of drink we could say we drink a lot of beer we drink a lot of water a lot of juice and so on this is as an uncountable noun when we use one of these words as a countable noun however it means one serving so usually here like a cup or a glass of a specific drink so you'll hear two beers please two beers please that means two servings of beer or two waters please you might hear or two juices please so we use these as countable nouns to mean one serving or one portion of that drink so when you're speaking generally about like likes or dislikes or your habits perhaps you can use it as an uncountable noun when you're ordering something at a restaurant or you're talking about quantity you can use it as a countable noun so just add an s to the end of the noun here okay so the same idea applies to this last one in the food group i have bread cheese cake you might also hear it used with pizza as well so these foods that are kind of they're big and we usually need to cut them or slice them we need to make them smaller before we serve them we can use this kind of pattern these kinds of patterns to talk about them so all of these bread cheesecake these are all food items usually food items that need to be made smaller before we serve them as an uncountable noun we use it in a sentence like this we need to buy bread we need to buy cheese we need to buy cake or let's get some cake let's get some cheese and so on this means generally that food i want that food in particular so we don't we're not talking about the smaller parts or a specific type but when we use it as a countable noun it refers to a specific type of that item so a specific type of bread or a specific type of cheese a specific type of cake for example some cheeses are made with mold some cheeses are made with mold like blue cheese for example so some cheeses you'll see here i've made cheese plural by adding an s to the end that means inside the category of cheese some types are made with mold so we would not say some cheese are made with mold we cannot use it in that sense with the uncountable version we need to use a countable so a plural form of the noun we could talk about bread as well in this way like some breads take a long time to make some breads take a long time to make that means within the category of bread there are some types that take a long time to make we can do the same thing with cake or with pizza so yes it's this uncountable noun when we talk about it generally we mean this uncountable noun but if we want to talk about a specific type or a specific category inside this group we use it as a countable noun this is especially helpful when you're talking about flavors or the way something is made okay let's continue on to the next side the next side i have here food uh yes this is generally to talk about uh all types of food so as an uncountable noun we use the word food to talk about everything that people eat everything that animals eat so things for people and animals to eat food as an uncountable noun however when we use it as a countable noun we're talking about a specific type of thing to eat so this follows the same pattern as all of these food related items well except maybe chicken but it follows the same pattern as these when we want to talk about a specific category inside food we can use it as a countable noun so as an uncountable noun we might say something like i ate too much food i ate too much food but as a countable noun you might say something like fried foods are unhealthy fried foods are unhealthy so why did we say fried foods are unhealthy why not fried food is unhealthy actually both sentences are correct it's totally fine the difference fried foods this means all types of food which are fried are unhealthy so that means fried chicken or like french fries fried potatoes anything dipped in oil and cooked at a high temperature all of those things are unhealthy so this is why we use fried foods we're talking about specifically all things inside the category of fried food so we can use the plural form here but yes fried food is unhealthy is also okay to use so they communicate the same idea but you might hear something like this as well so if you want to talk about a specific type of thing you can use countable the countable version to do that you'll hear this a lot when you're talking about like uh diets and healthy eating and so on people will say like try to include more healthy foods in your diet so that means try to include more food that is healthy so it's like a quicker way to say that okay on to the next one so the last group here these are quite different from the ones we've talked about before next is glass glass so as an uncountable noun it means a material so glass is the thing that like windows are made of this window or the window is made of glass so it's a material we use for things for cups or for glasses and so on countable noun then i've just hinted at it glass as a countable noun means an object used for drinking liquid so as a countable noun yes please be careful this is not the same as glasses that's a separate situation so we can use glasses to mean the things we wear on our faces to be able to see better this is different so we don't say glasses is for the accessory that we wear this one is different we use glasses to mean an object used for drinking liquid so this is the plural form so one glass two glasses bring two glasses from the kitchen so that means two things for drinking liquid from the kitchen so material object for drinking liquid these are very different yes it's true though sometimes you might have a glass that is made of glass so in that sense you can use them together okay on to the next one time time so time can be uncountable or countable time as an uncountable noun means the duration of something how long something is so we use clocks to measure time in a sentence we don't have enough time to have a meeting today we don't have enough time so that means we don't have enough space in the day so the duration is not long enough the duration of uh this day is not long enough as a countable noun however it means the number of instances so for example i've traveled overseas many times many times so you use this when you're talking about your life experience for example i've been there three times or i've seen him four times today so times in the plural form is used to talk about the number of instances the number of times the number of instances you have experienced something or maybe the number of instances you're planning to experience something in the future so these two are quite different okay the next one is work this is a very good one to remember especially if you are in creative related fields as an uncountable noun work refers to one's job so one here one means one person oneself so your job or your profession for example she's at work right now i have to go to work and so on so that refers to your job your profession the thing you do for your life however as a countable noun work means something made by a creative person so this is like an artist a musician an illustrator whatever kind of creative work it is i've just used it there we use work to talk about the things that are made by that person for example i love the works of monet i love the works of monet so works here means the things created by monet so the things created i use the here because i'm talking specifically about the things monet made we don't use i love a works here or i love a work by monet unless you only want to talk about like one specific thing and you don't remember the name so i love the works of monet or i saw a new work by some up-and-coming artist so you might hear it used uh in a situation like that generally we use work for creative related things we don't really use this so much for like maybe engineering or like math or sciences stuff like that so we tend to use this for creative related things okay on to the last one pronunciation pronunciation important i think for everyone watching this channel pronunciation as an uncountable noun means the sounds made when speaking a language so generally so we have english pronunciation and chinese pronunciation and french pronunciation so those are the sounds made when we speak a certain language for example pronunciation practice is important so those are the sounds that you make when you make when you are speaking a certain language however as a countable noun pronunciation means a specific way of saying a word or a sound so for example in english we have like british english american english australian english irish english scottish english there are many different types of english so there are many different pronunciations of the same word for example there are two or three different pronunciations of this word so that means there are two or three different ways of saying this word so but we use pronunciations in the plural form to make that much easier and shorter to say so it means a specific way of saying a word or sound so you might see pronunciation used as an uncountable noun or as a countable noun in your studies okay so i hope that this was helpful for you this is a maybe a good introduction to some nouns that can be used in both countable and uncountable ways please keep in mind there are more there are more but i think that these are some very common ones that you can practice of course if you know of some other nouns that are used in countable and uncountable ways please feel free to include those in a comment to this video below if you have any questions or comments or any other things if you want to practice making some sentences you can please do that in the comments of this video as well so i hope that you enjoyed this lesson thanks very much for watching also if you did like it please don't forget to give it a thumbs up subscribe to our channel if you have not already and check us out at englishclass101.com for some other things that can help you with your english studies thanks very much for watching this lesson and i will see you again soon bye

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Length: 18min 18sec (1098 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 12 2020