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Use these other ways to express yes in English and sounds less repetative!

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Learning about countable and uncountable nouns is very important in English. This is because it effects lots of other things such as grammar and articles.

If you don’t understand how to use them correctly, it will be difficult for people to understand you and you wont be able to speak confidently.

In this lesson, you will learn everything you need to know about countable and uncountable nouns. This will improve your English and help you speak more naturally!

WHAT ARE NOUNS IN ENGLISH?

Nouns are things. Anything you can see and touch is a noun.

Even things you can’t see like ideas, information and air are nouns.

Nouns are the most basic kind of word in English and there are a lot of them, so it is important to learn how to use them correctly.

When we talk about nouns in English, there are some different groups of nouns you need to know about. This is because it will change how that word is used.

WHAT ARE COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS?

In English, we can separate nouns into two groups: countable and uncountable.

When you learn a new noun, it is a good idea to also learn if it is countable or uncountable. This is important because it will tell you how to use that word with other words in a sentence.

We also talk about countable and uncountable nouns in different ways.

WHAT ARE COUNTABLE NOUNS?

Countable nouns are words in English that we can count.

Each noun we are talking about is considered a separate thing and we are able to count how many of that thing exist, so we call those things countable.

For example:

Animals – Cats, dogs, birds, gorillas etc

Vehicles – Cars, trains, bikes, airplanes etc.

Places – Parks, beaches, cities, train stations etc

Items – Books, chairs, computers etc.

Food – Apples, tomatoes, burgers etc.

People – Brothers, sisters, friends etc.

SINGULAR AND PLURAL NOUNS

We can split countable nouns in to two groups, singular and plural.

Singular nouns are when we are only talking about one item and plural nouns are when we are talking about two or more of that item.

The word will change depending on if it is singular or plural.

It also changes how the word interacts with things like articles or determiners.

WHAT ARE SINGULAR NOUNS?

Singular nouns are the basic form of the noun. This is when we are only talking about one item. If there is more than one of that item, you need to use plural nouns.

Singular nouns are the version you will find in the dictionary. This is called the base form. For example:

Cat,

dog,

car,

bike,

train station etc.

You don’t need to change these nouns in anyway to use them.

We can use “one” or determiners like “a, an or the” when we are talking about singular nouns.

WHAT ARE PLURAL NOUNS?

Plural nouns are used when we are talking about more than one of a noun. If you are talking about 2 or more items, you need to use this form.

Plural nouns are confusing because the word changes, but there are a few different patterns that you need to learn. These are regular plurals, irregular plurals and same word plurals.

REGULAR PLURALS.

Regular plural nouns are the easiest ones. You take the singular version of the noun and add ‘s’ to the end of the word.

Cats,

dogs,

cars,

bikes,

train stations

Most regular plurals work this way. However, be careful, because some words are a little different.

For words that end in ‘y’ – like city, we remove the ‘y’ and add ‘ies’ so it becomes cities. This is also true for parties, berries and stories.

However, not all words that end in ‘y’ follow this pattern. Words like birthdays, delays and ways just add ‘s’ to the end like other regular nouns.

If you are not sure how to change a word, you should check in the dictionary.

IRREGULAR PLURALS.

In English, there are lots of irregular plural nouns. Irregular plurals and the singular noun word are completely different words.

There is no pattern that you can learn and each word is different, so you need to learn them as a set. This is similar to irregular verbs.

Here are some common examples:

person – people

child – children

tooth – teeth

wife – wives

mouse – mice

man – men

SAME WORD PLURALS.

Some plural nouns don’t change at all. We call them same word plurals.

Basically the word stays the same no matter how many of that thing we are talking about.

Here are some common examples:

Fish – fish

Sheep – sheep

Aircraft – aircraft

Shrimp – shrimp

Too / Either / Neither / So – What’s the difference?

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Too / Either / Neither / So – What’s the difference?

WHAT ARE UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS?

Countable nouns are nouns that we can count, so , uncountable nouns are nouns that we can’t count. Sometimes, these are called non-count nouns.

These nouns are not used with a/an, numbers and they can’t be used in the plural form.

There are lots of uncountable nouns in English but here are a few examples:

Ideas and experiences: advice, information, progress, news

Substances/Materials: water, rice, gold, milk

Weather nouns: weather, lightning, rain, snow

Names for groups of things: furniture, equipment, rubbish, baggage

Some nouns are always in their plural form, but are actually uncountable because they are not separated. For example:

Trousers: They are usually referred to as a pair of trousers. “I bought 2 pairs of trousers” is fine but “I bought a trousers” is not OK. Other nouns of this type are:

shorts,

pants,

glasses, and

scissors.

HOW DO WE TALK ABOUT UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS?

When we want to express an amount of an uncountable noun, we often use quantifiers. Common quantifiers are things like much, a lot of, some and a little. There are some other specific words that we use to talk about uncountable nouns.

In the earlier example, we looked at a pair to talk about things like trousers and glasses but what about for words like furniture, news and milk?

We often use words like a piece of, a bit of or an item of to talk about uncountable nouns.

We will also use measurements or containers such as a litre of, a kilogram of or a glass of when it comes to materials and substances. Here are a few examples:

A piece of advice

A bit of rain

A litre of water

A bar of chocolate

A kilogram of rice

A bag of rubbish

IS IT COUNTABLE, UNCOUNTABLE OR BOTH?

There are some cases where words are both countable and uncountable depending on the situation.

Common examples of this are related to animals. When we are talking about the animal they are countable. For example, one chicken, two chickens, three chickens etc.

However, when we are talking about the food, they become uncountable. Like I wouldn’t say

“I ate a chicken for dinner.”

I would usually say pieces of chicken just like other uncountable nouns.

Sometimes you will also get the same word with different meanings, and one of the meanings is countable and the other is not. Like…

“I bought a new iron and ironing board.”

in this case iron is countable. However,

“That train is made from iron“

is talking about iron as a substance or material and therefor is uncountable.

These cases are quite rare but it is still important to think about.

UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS PRETENDING TO BE COUNTABLE.

There are some cases where we talk about uncountable nouns as if they are countable. Consider this example:

“Can I get a coffee with two sugars to go?”

This is something you might hear in a cafe but there is something strange going on here.

Coffee is a liquid and is uncountable. Sugar is a substance and it is uncountable.

Usually, we need to talk about coffee and sugar using containers or measurements. A cup of coffee with 2 spoons of sugar is the correct way to say this so why is this rule ignored?

Well it is quite common when talking about drinks in cafes or bars. It is obvious what container the drinks will be supplied in, so we can just skip mentioning it.

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Original Content: https://www.dansenseienglish.com/grammar/bored-boring/

Adjectives that end in ~ed vs adjectives that end in ~ing can be confusing. This common mistake can make you look really strange if you get it wrong.

There are many adjectives in English that can end in either ~ed or ~ing. They look similar, but they are used in pretty different ways.

In this lesson, we are going to look at how they are different and when you should use the different forms.

WHAT ARE ADJECTIVES?

An adjective in English is a word that we use to describe things. We usually put them before a noun in a sentence to give us more information about that noun.

Common adjectives are things like

• big,
• small,
• old,
• new,
• fast,
• slow,
• hot,
• cold,
• red,
• blue and so on.

ADJECTIVE ENDINGS.

Usually, adjectives are formed from the base word. This is usually a verb. Take a look at these examples:

• Hero = Heroic
• Rain = Rainy
• Child = Childish
• Beauty = Beautiful

Bored and boring both come from the base word bore. This is why they have quite similar meanings. Look at this example:

This movie bores me.

In English, you can usually tell what an adjective does based on the ending of the word.

As bored and boring have different endings, they also do different things.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BORED AND BORING?

OK, so there is a difference between these two words.

Bored is describing a person’s feelings. They are not interested.

Boring is describing a person, place or thing that is not interesting.

Look at this sentence.

The meeting was really boring, so I was really bored.

So basically, this is the rule…

~ed is describing a feeling but ~ing is describing a thing.

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DOES THIS WORK FOR ALL ADJECTIVES?

Yes, this rule is the same for all adjectives that end in ~ed or ~ing.

~ed is describing a feeling but ~ing is describing a thing.

Here are some example sentences to show you how this works:

• The documentary was interesting, so I was interested
• She was excited because the baseball game was exciting
• His boss is really annoying, so he was annoyed.
• The news was worrying, so they were worried.
• My job is tiring, so I am tired.

When you use these adjectives, you don’t need to use both versions.

Usually, you just need to use one and people will understand the other one automatically. Like this:

• The documentary was interesting, (so I was interested)
• (She was excited because) the baseball game was exciting
• His boss is really annoying, (so he was annoyed.)
• The news was worrying, (so they were worried.)
• My job is tiring, (so I am tired.)

You don’t need to say the parts in (brackets) but people will know that is what you mean.

CAN PEOPLE BE BORING?

Yes, they can.

We can use ~ing adjectives to talk about people as well as places, things and ideas.

We usually use ~ed adjectives to talk about peoples feelings but we can use ~ing to describe what kind of person they are.

When we use ~ing adjectives to talk about people, we are talking about their personality or characteristics, or how they are acting. Here are some examples.

• Steven is a really interesting person.
• Mike is so annoying, he never stops talking!
• She is so excited about her date tomorrow night.

Just because we usually use ~ed adjectives to talk about people, doesn’t mean that we can’t use ~ing adjectives too.

Just be careful to choose the right one!

WHAT OTHER ADJECTIVES CAN END IN ED OR ING?

There are lots of adjectives that can end in ~ed or ~ing. Here is a list of common examples.

• annoyed/annoying
• bored/boring
• confused/confusing
• disappointed/disappointing
• excited /exciting
• frightened/frightening
• interested/interesting
• surprised/surprising
• tired/tiring
• worried/worrying

There are many more examples, but these are the ones you will use the most, so they are a good place to start.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I CHOOSE THE WRONG ADJECTIVE ENDING?

Well, like most things in English, a native speaker will probably understand what you mean, but it will be a bit strange.

If you tell someone:

I didn’t do anything last weekend. I was so boring.

You are basically saying:

I didn’t do anything last weekend. I am a boring person.

Telling people you are a boring person is not a good way to make new friends! The same thing is true of you describe another person using the wrong adjective.

Imagine your friend is watching a terrible movie and does not look interested at all.

He looks so boring. = He looks like a boring person.

This is not a nice thing to say about your friend! This is why you need to be careful.

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[ Original Content - https://www.dansenseienglish.com/grammar/in-on-at-time/]

Using in, on and at in English can be very difficult to get right. If you get them wrong, it can be a bit confusing for the people you are talking to. You don’t need to worry though, because by the end of this lesson, you will know how to use in, on and at to talk about time in English.

WHAT ARE PREPOSITIONS OF TIME?

Prepositions are used to tell the listener the connection between two nouns. They tell the listener how the two things are related and the relationship could be related to time or it could be related to location. Prepositions usually go before a noun or pronoun and tell us the extra details.

Today, we are only talking about in, on and at (because these are the trickiest ones) but here is a list of other common prepositions.

above, about, across, against, along, among, around, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, down, during, except, for, from, inside, into, like, near, of, off, since, to, toward, through, under, until, up, upon, with, within.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IN, ON AND AT?

There are some simple rules that I can tell you that will help you choose the correct preposition most of the time. Take a look at these rules.

• In is used to talk about long periods of time. This can be centuries, decades, years, seasons and months.
• On is used to talk about more specific periods of time like days and dates.
• At is used to talk about very specific periods of time like hours in the day.

EXAMPLES USING IN, ON AND AT.

Here are some example sentences so you can see how we use in, on and at.

• My birthday is in October.
• I was born in 1993.
• I love eating ice cream in summer.
• I have a meeting on Friday.
• Let’s have a party on New Years Eve
• I am going to Tokyo on the 27th.
• I wake up at 6:30 every day.
• I will visit my friends at Christmas.
• What are you doing at the weekend?

ARE THERE A LOT OF EXCEPTIONS FOR IN, ON AND AT?

Well, the short answer is yes. Additionally, the general rules above will help you get it right a lot, but you also need to learn about the exceptions that don’t follow those rules. If you really want to master these propositions of time, check out these exceptions and be careful not to make these mistakes.

ON THE WEEKEND OR AT THE WEEKEND?

The answer will depend on where you are from. In the UK we say at the weekend, whereas in the US, they say on the weekend.

Also, if we are talking about when an event will be held, we usually use on the weekend. For example:

Download festival is being held on the last weekend in May.

TIMES OF THE DAY.

When we are talking about times of the day, the prepositions can seem a bit random. It is better to think of these following sentences as fixed expressions rather than trying to understand why each preposition is used.

We say:

• In the morning
• At breakfast
• In the afternoon
• At lunchtime
• On my lunch break
• In the Evening
• At Dinner
• At Night

AT NIGHT OR IN THE NIGHT?

Previously, I said it is “at night” but this isn’t always true. Check out these examples:

• Recently, I keep waking up in the night to go to the toilet.
• I like to go to the supermarket at night because it is less crowded.

As you can see a different preposition is used each time so when we are talking about nights in general, we use at night. If we are being more specific about which nights, we will use in the night.

DO WE ALWAYS USE IN ON AND AT WITH TIME EXPRESSIONS?

No we don’t. We skip in, on and at when we use other words in the sentence because we don’t need two time expressions. The words to look out for are:

• each,
• every,
• next,
• last,
• some,
• this,
• that,
• one,
• any,
• all.

That means if you see these words in the time expression, you don’t need to add in, on or at. For example

I go shopping on every weekend = I go shopping every weekend.

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Look, watch and see are all verbs with similar meanings.

This means that people often make mistakes when using these verbs.

If you use the wrong verb when talking in English, it can be confusing for the listener.

This is why it is important for you to study look, watch and see and learn how to use them correctly.

By the end of this lesson, you will understand how these words are different and how to use them correctly.

HOW TO USE LOOK, WATCH AND SEE? Although they are all verbs and they are all related to the eyes, they are three different verbs and they are used in three different ways.

It is important to note that in this article we are talking about the verbs. Watch and look can be nouns (you know, like the thing on your wrist that tells you the time) but we are focusing on the verbs in this lesson.

WATCH. Watch is a verb that means you move your eyes and focus on something.

The reason you choose to do that is because you expect that the thing will move, or change in some way.

We usually use watch when we are talking about things like

• movies,
• sports events,
• TV shows,
• YouTube videos,
• a fireworks display,
• a concert and things like that.

Check out these examples:

• I usually watch TV in bed.
• He is always watching YouTube on his iPad.
• Are you going to watch the Olympics?

LOOK. Look is similar to watch as in you move your eyes to focus on something.

The big difference is that you don’t expect the thing you focus on to move or change. It might do, but you are not expecting it to. We often look at things like photos, magazines, art etc.

It is quite common to use this verb when we talk about windows. We look out of the window, rather than watch the window.

Another thing you need to remember is that when you have an object, you need to use the preposition at. Like this…

Look + at + object.

Check out at these examples:

• Look out! The floor is slippery!
• I’m looking for a new hat.
• What are you looking at?

SEE. See is quite different to the other verbs because see doesn’t require any effort or thought. It just kind of happens.

You don’t need to try to see something because it is all automatic. We often use see when we notice something with our eyes. It is usually the case that we didn’t expect it to happen and we are a bit surprised.

• I saw Ric in the supermarket this morning.
• I saw a shooting star last night.
• When I was looking out of the window, I saw a car crash.

We also use this verb when we ask other people if they witnessed something.

When we are talking about the fact of viewing something, we use see. Even though I would watch a game of football, the next day I might ask my mate…

“Did you see the footie last night?”

ARE THERE ANY OTHER DIFFERENCES? There is one pretty important exception that you should know about.

We can use see in the same way as watch. There is a nuance difference though.

I can say “I saw a movie” and this tells the listener that I left my home and did that at another place, probably a cinema or something.

When we use see, we often imply that we went somewhere to do that thing.

If I say, “I watched a movie”, it is implied that I did that thing at home.

This is why we always say I watched TV, because we almost always do that at home.

WHAT ARE SOME COMMON MISTAKES WITH LOOK, WATCH AND SEE? There are a few common mistakes that learners make that I want to mention here.

Look uses the preposition at if there is an object in the sentence:

It’s nice to look at the scenery from the lakeside. ✅

It’s nice to look the scenery from the lakeside. ❌

You can’t use watch if you are not trying to see something.

If you go to the zoo, you might see a gorilla. ✅

If you go to the zoo, you might watch a gorilla. ❌

We usually use look when we are talking about phones and tablets:

I always look at Instagram on my phone when I am taking the train. ✅

I always watch Instagram on my phone when I am taking the train. ❌

ARE THERE ANY OTHER MEANINGS FOR LOOK, WATCH AND SEE? Some of these words can be used in slightly different ways to what we mentioned earlier in this post. For example, see can often be used to mean visit. For example,

I saw a dentist last week about my toothache.

Another nuance to be aware of is that watch is usually used when we look at something for a long time. If I go to the beach and focus on the ocean for a while, I would watch the ocean rather than look at it. For example,

We watched the sunset from the balcony.

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Do you sometimes get articles (a/an/the) mixed up in English? A lot of English learners get really confused about when to use a, an or the. If you want to speak with confidence, you need to understand how to use articles correctly.

Today I will teach you everything you need to know about using articles like a native speaker!

I will also teach you how to avoid common mistakes people make with a, an and the.

WHAT ARE ARTICLES? In English, there are 3 articles – A, An and The. They are a type of determiner and they usually go before a noun to give the listener more information.

These three words are difficult for learners to understand because they have very similar meanings. This is the same as words like in, on and at.

WHY ARE A, AN AND THE SO IMPORTANT? Consider these examples.

Did you eat a cake? In this example, the speaker is not being specific about which cake we are talking about and they are asking if I ate any cake, anywhere in the world. It seems like a general conversation.

Did you eat the cake? This time, the speaker is talking about a specific cake that we both know about. Perhaps they are accusing me of eating their cake!

As you can see, although the only differences in these sentences are the articles, the meaning of the sentences is quite different. We can give a lot of information to the listener just by using articles.

HOW TO USE ARTICLES IN ENGLISH? The article you choose will depend on the situation. In the video at the top of the page I show you different situations and which article you should use. Here is a quick overview:

We use a/an when:

• “there is” is part of the sentence.
• It is the first time we mention something in a conversation.
• We use “have” and “have got”
• You are talking about the name of something.
• We are talking about jobs or professions.

We use the when:

• It is related to a unique noun.
• We have already mentioned something in the conversation previously.
• It’s obvious which one we mean
• We use superlative adjectives
• Relative clauses are used in the sentence.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A, AN AND THE? The difference between A, An and The can be confusing.

A/an are used when the noun we are talking about is not already known by the people in the conversation. For example:

• I have a cat.
• He lives in an apartment.
• Do you drive a car?

The is used when everyone knows which noun we are talking about. Maybe, this is the second time it has been mentioned, or it is obvious based on the context of the conversation. For example:

• Where is the train station?
• I forgot the tickets.
• They are going to the supermarket.

Basically, when we are talking in general, we use a/an and we use the when we are being specific. Check out this graphic for more details about how to choose which one you should use.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A AND AN? We use an when the first sound of the following noun is a vowel sound (you know… AEIOU) For example an envelope, an apple and an island.

We use a when the first sound of the noun is a consonant (not a vowel). For example a car, a day, a sandwich.You need to pay attention to the sound rather than the spelling. Some words are spelled with a consonant, but sound like a vowel such as an hour, an MP3 player and an FPS game. The same is also true with vowels that make consonant sounds like a university, a one year old and a uniform.

HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE THE? There are two ways to pronounce the. The long way (/ði:/ – thee) or the short way (/ðə/ – the) and choosing the correct one depends on the first sound of the word that follows it.

• We use the long version when there is a vowel sound such as the escalator or the orange.
• We use the short version when there is a consonant sound like the cheese or the book.

DO WE ALWAYS USE ARTICLES? Almost every time we use a noun, we should use a, an and the. However there are some cases where an article is not required.

• We don’t use an article when we are talking about institutions like school, hospital, prison, class and university. I would say I went to university not I went to a university.
• We also don’t use articles when we are talking about plural nouns or nouns that are a mass. For example Cars are expensive or water is important for health.
• Finally, we don’t use articles when we are using a possessive pronoun. You can say I lost my phone which is better than I lost the phone.

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