Identifying
Countable and Non-countable Nouns
Articles are a type of noun modifier that
precedes a noun. There are two types of articles in English:
the definite article the and the indefinite articles a,
an, or some. The first step toward knowing how
to use these articles before a noun is to be able to classify
nouns as either countable or non-countable.
This tutorial (steps 1-5) covers the following
concepts: First, you will learn how to identify countable and
non-countable nouns. Next, you will learn the types of articles
that precede these nouns. Then, you will learn that some countable
nouns can also be non-countable and vice versa. Finally, you
will learn to use the definite article the before a noun
in a sentence or paragraph, when that noun has previously been
identified for the reader. Now please look at the examples and
exercise below:
Countable and Non-countable
Nouns
Countable nouns
are objects that come in discrete units and thus can be made
plural. If the noun is singular, it usually requires the indefinite
article a, an or some. If the noun is plural,
it requires the article some or no article at all.
a banana. . .some bananas
a metabolite. . . metabolites
Non-countable
nouns are objects that cannot be divided into discrete units
and thus cannot be made plural. They require the indefinite
article some, an expression of quantity (a piece of,
a lot of), or no article before them.
milk. . . some milk
ethanol. . . some ethanol
ethanol. . . a liter of ethanol
Test
Yourself!
To know how to use articles, it is necessary
to be able to classify nouns in English. Singular countable nouns
require an article. Plural countable nouns and all non-countable
nouns do not require an article. The following list contains
both countable and non-countable nouns. Can you classify each
noun? Click on each one to find out its classification.