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Things that you can and cannot count

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What exactly are countable nouns and how are they different from other nouns?

Countable nouns are exactly what you think they are with no exceptions. They are the names of things that you can count.

How many brothers have you got? I've got two brothers. How much money have you got? I've got a lot of money. Can you see the difference between the nouns 'brothers' and 'money'?

You can put a number in front of 'brothers', you can count them exactly, but you can't put a number in front of 'money'. You can say the amount of 'money' that you have, but you can't say 'two monies' and so on.

A word such as 'brother' is a countable noun and a word such as 'money' is an uncountable noun. Uncountable nouns do not have a plural form.

Below is a list of 30 nouns. You have one minute to sort them into countable nouns and uncountable nouns. There are 15 of each. One, two, three. Off you go!

bowl / petrol / apple / rain / man / pen / newspaper / bread / rice / weather / rug /

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