THE NONCOUNT NOUN

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THE NONCOUNT NOUN

• RECOGNIZE A NONCOUNT NOUN WHEN YOU SEE ONE.

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• Nouns name people, places, things, and ideas.
• Most nouns have a singular and plural form.
• a surfer/ two surfers a pickle/
  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.

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Examples After two months of rainstorms,
Chris carries his umbrella everywhere in
anticipation of more bad weather. rainstorms
count noun weather 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 noun furniture
noncount noun
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Know the different categories of noncount nouns.
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Abstractions Example We practice patriotism by
celebrating the Fourth of July. advice,
courage, enjoyment, fun, help, honesty,
information, intelligence, knowledge, patience,
etc.
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Activities Example We played Monopoly for six
hours last Saturday. homework, swimming,
housework, music, Scrabble, Monopoly, reading,
singing, sleeping, soccer, tennis, work, etc.
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Food Example Grandma Brown baked homemade
bread for dinner. beef, bread, butter, fish,
macaroni, meat, popcorn, pork, poultry, toast,
etc.
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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)
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Gases Example Exhaust from cars can cause
pollution. air, exhaust, hydrogen, oxygen,
nitrogen, pollution, smog, smoke, steam, etc.
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Groups of Similar Items Example Katy placed her
suitcase on the rack with her familys
luggage. Noncount Count luggage suitcase clo
thing shirt furniture chair
mail letter jewelry necklace
money dollar
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Materials Example We had a big stack of lumber
in the back yard. aluminum, asphalt, chalk,
cloth, concrete, cotton, glue, lumber, wood,
wool, etc.
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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.
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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.
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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 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.
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Kobe Bryant uses a basketball (count noun)to play
the game of basketball (noncount noun).