Count/Non-Count Nouns

Count/Non-Count Nouns

Count nouns have two forms: singular and plural. They can be used with numbers and quantifying expressions such as many, several, and few.

One potato

two potatoes

several potatoes

few potatoes

When used as subjects in present tense sentences, count nouns require the -s form of the verb in the singular and the base form of the verb in the plural.

The dog sleeps.

The dogs sleep.

The bear has large claws.

Non-count nouns have only one form. When used as subjects in present tense sentences, non-count nouns require the -s form of the verb.

Juice contains many vitamins.

Honesty is the best policy.

Some nouns can be either count or non-count.

Job experience is essential	Some experiences can be funny.
Milk contains calcium.	Two milks, please. (informal)

Both count and non-count nouns can be quantified. That is, they can be used with expressions which divide them into parts or groups which can be counted. For example,

Two apples	Two bags of apples
One cookie	A box of cookies
milk	Two cartons of milk
sugar	A cup of sugar

Sometimes a non-count noun is used to indicate a "group" of items, whereas individual items within the group are countable. For example,

Non-count	Count
Money	dollars, bills, fives, cents, dimes, coins
Time	years, months, days, hours, minutes
Clothing	dresses, pants, shirts, socks, shoes
Furniture	Tables, chairs, sofas, lamps
Luggage	suitcases, briefcases, bags, carry-ons

For Practice:

Countable or Non-Countable Nouns (from The Internet TESL Journal)

See also :

Speaking : Count and Non-count Nouns in Context
Grammar : Subject-Verb Agreement
Grammar : Quantifiers

The Noncount Noun (from Grammar Bytes)