Writing Center Tutorial - Grammar

Grammar Help for ESL Students: Nouns

Count Nouns

Count Nouns are things which can be counted. Such things are thought of in terms of separate or individual items. One way you can identify a count noun is that it has a singular and plural form. Another way is that it can be used with numbers.

Helpful Hint: Most count nouns are concrete, which means they are nouns that can be seen, felt, heard, smelled or tasted.

Examples:
One cat, Two cats
One city, Three cities
One hot-dog, Four hot-dogs

Some abstract nouns (mental concepts such as emotions, activities, qualities) are also count nouns because we view them as distinct units.

Examples:
One dream, Six dreams
One religion, Three religions
One thought, Two thoughts

Mass Nouns

Mass Nouns are not thought of in terms of separate units; they are "uncountable." Mass nouns are always in the singular form.

Helpful Hint: Most abstract nouns are mass nouns.

Examples:
happiness, teaching, intelligence, love

However, many concrete nouns are also mass nouns because they are thought of as single substances rather than individual items. These are often gases, liquids, and materials which do not have any definite boundaries, and solids which consist of small pieces.

Examples:
Gases: Air, mist, oxygen
Liquids: Milk, juice, gasoline
Materials: Paper, cement, metal, meat
Solids: Rice, flour, sand

When one wants to make mass nouns countable, one uses the following formula:

unit(s) + "of" + Mass Noun

Examples:
Two pieces of paper
Two grains of sand
Two types of happiness
Two cartons of milk
Two tanks of oxygen

Form vs. Function

Most nouns are not always count or always mass. They usually fall into more than one category, depending on the way they are used in a particular context.

Examples:
I lived in a house made of brick.
That building contains 16,000 bricks.
The professor only speaks one language.
Language is only one form of communication.
Television is the most powerful medium of communication.
The Smiths have a television in every room of their house.
Coffee is the only thing that gets me going in the morning.
The man in the black hat ordered two coffees to go.