Something about countable and uncountable nouns.

Well, you have to teach countable and uncountable nouns in English today, right? Good luck with it; it is going to be quite difficult if your students are Brazilians. And why is that? Well, because in Portuguese, they can count bread, meat, and fruit, but in English, they cannot.

They will probably use the interlanguage -- the type of language produced by second- and foreign- language learners who are in the process of learning a language.

Some correct answers will depend on the context or on what you really want to say.

Everybody knows that ‘egg’ is countable, isn’t that right?

‘I bought two eggs at the supermarket yesterday’ is an example of a correct sentence. However, ‘egg’ will be uncountable in ‘I have egg in my T-shirt’.

We have to remember that SOME words that are both countable and uncountable nouns in English, but with differences in meaning.

Here there is a list of the most common ones.

Accommodation:

Uncountable: a place to live in or stay at.

Countable: an agreement between opposing people or organizations.

Aid:

Uncountable: money or help given to those who need it.

Countable: something that helps you to do something.

Sugar:

Uncountable: sweet crystals added to drinks like tea and coffee.

Countable: one teaspoon of sugar, or a particular type of sugar.

Sport:

Uncountable: physical activities in which players compete individually or in teams.

Countable: a particular kind of sport.

Silence:

Uncountable: total quiet, or no sound at all.

Countable: a period of time when nobody's speaking.

Room:

Uncountable: the space needed for something.

Countable: a space inside a building with walls, a floor and a ceiling.

Love:

Uncountable: a strong affection for someone.

Countable: a person, thing or activity that you love.

Ice cream:

Uncountable: a sweet frozen food made from milk.

Countable: a small amount of ice cream on a stick, in a cone, or in a small container.

Grammar:

Uncountable: the rules of a language.

Countable: a book that describes the rules of a language.

Gossip:

Uncountable: stories about other people's private lives, often untrue or exaggerated.

Countable: a person who likes telling and hearing gossip.

Freedom:

Uncountable: the state of being free to do what you want.

Countable: the right to do what you want to do.

Time:

Uncountable: duration as measured by clocks.

Countable: a particular occasion or time when something happened.

Smoke:

Uncountable: clouds that rise from fires, chimneys, etc.

Countable: a cigarette, or the act of smoking.

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