THE NONCOUNT NOUN

RECOGNIZE A NONCOUNT NOUN WHEN YOU SEE ONE.

Nouns name people, places, things, and ideas.

Most nouns have a singular and plural form. a surfer/ two surfers a pickle/ two pickles

Some nouns, however, have only a singular form; you cannot add a number to the front or an s to the end of these words. This group of nouns is called NONCOUNT NOUNS.

Examples: After two months of rainstorms, Chris carries his umbrella everywhere in anticipation of more bad weather.

rainstorms = count nounweather = noncount noun

Because Big Toe Joe has ripped all four chairs with his claws, Rachel wants to buy new furniture and find the cat a new home.chairs = count nounfurniture = noncount noun

Know the different categories of noncount

nouns.

Abstractions

Example: We practice patriotism by celebrating the Fourth of July.

advice, courage, enjoyment, fun, help, honesty, information, intelligence, knowledge, patience, etc.

Activities

Example: We played Monopoly for six hours last Saturday.

homework, swimming, housework, music, Scrabble, Monopoly, reading, singing, sleeping, soccer, tennis, work, etc.

Food

Example: Grandma Brown baked homemade bread for dinner.

beef, bread, butter, fish, macaroni, meat,

popcorn, pork, poultry, toast, etc.

Particles or Grains

Example: Do you like pepper on your french fries?

corn, dirt, dust, flour, hair, rice, salt, sugar, wheat, and pepper (black, white or ground, but not green or bell)

Gases

Example: Exhaust from cars can cause pollution.

air, exhaust, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, pollution, smog, smoke, steam, etc.

Groups of Similar ItemsExample – Katy placed her suitcase on the rack with her family’s luggage.

Noncount Countluggage suitcaseclothing shirt furniture chair mail letterjewelry necklace money dollar

Things Made of Small Pieces

Example:Mr. Brown was unhappy when his wife insisted they plant more grass in the front yard.

grass, sand, gravel, dirt, clay, etc.

Liquids

Example: Sam tried to fill the pool by pouring water from a bucket.

blood, coffee, gasoline, milk, oil, soup, syrup, tea, water, wine, etc.

Natural Events Example: When he first moved to Wisconsin, Jose liked snow, but after five years he was missing sunshine.

electricity, gravity, heat, humidity, moonlight, rain, snow, sunshine, thunder, weather, etc.

Materials

Example: We had a big stack of lumber in the back yard.

aluminum, asphalt, chalk, cloth, concrete, cotton, glue, lumber, wood, wool, etc.

Understand that some nouns are both noncount and count!

Sometimes a word that means one thing as a noncount noun has a slightly

different meaning if it also has a countable version. Remember, then, that the

classifications count and noncount are not absolute.

Time is a good example. When you use this word to mean the unceasing flow of experience that includes past, present, and future, with no distinct beginning or end, then time is a noncount noun.

Read this example:Time dragged as Simon sat through yet another boring chick flick with his girlfriend.Time = noncount because it has no specific beginning and, for poor Simon, no foreseeable end.

When time refers to a specific experience which starts at a certain moment and ends after a number of countable units [minutes, hours, days, etc.], then the noun is count.

Here is an example:

On his last trip to Disney World, Joe rode Space Mountain twenty-seven times.Times = count because a ride on Space Mountain is a measurable unit of experience, one that you can clock with a stopwatch.

Kobe Bryant uses a basketball (count noun)to play the game of basketball (noncount noun).