Countable - non-countable

(This page is a detail about nouns, a word class. The course in Word Classes forms part of the Grammar course in AWE. You may choose to follow it in a structured way by following the links. Each item can also be accessed separately.)

The difference between count nouns and non-count nouns is important to foreign learners of English. Native speakers are rarely troubled by it.

Count nouns are also called countable nouns. Non-count nouns are also called uncountable and mass nouns. Some grammarians talk of caountable(s) and uncountable(s).

Logically, it is not hard to distinguish between these two types of noun. Count nouns are the names of things which can be counted: such things as 'door' , 'book' and 'ball'. Non-count nouns are the names of substances, often liquids, or other things that are not normally counted: 'water' is not an individual thing, and one doesn't easily talk of 'three waters'.