Tashkent university of information technologies named after muhammad al-kwarizmi abdiyeva saida

8D. GRAMMAR

Countable and uncountable

I had two eggs, a sausage and some bread for breakfast.

1) Countable nouns

“Eggs” and “sausage” are countable nouns. Countable nouns can be singular (an egg) or plural (eggs).

Before singular countable nouns, we can use a/an, the, my, this, one etc. We cannot use singular countable nouns alone:
There is a book on my desk.

I can’t find my mobile phone.

Before plural countable nouns, we can also use some, any, many, few, etc. Plural countable nouns can be used alone. We cannot use a/an.
He smokes 20 cigarettes a day.

I bought some apples at the supermarket.

I don’t have any posters in my bedroom, but I have a few plants.
2) Uncountable nouns

“Bread” is an uncountable noun. We cannot count uncountable nouns. For example, we cannot say `two

breads'. We can use uncountable nouns alone or with the, some, any, much, a lot of, etc.:
Do you like music?

Anna hasn't got much free time today. She has a lot of work to do.

We cannot use a/an with uncountable nouns, but we can say a ... of: