Uncountable nouns are singular, because we cannot count more than one of them.

Uncountable Nouns

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Uncountable nouns are often materials, substances or concepts that cannot be divided into separate elements. They cannot be counted as individual things. For example, we can’t count water. We can count glasses of water, or bottles of water. But water itself cannot be counted.

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Some examples of uncountable nouns are:

Bread, meat, water, oil, sugar, rice

Electricity, gas, energy, money, rain, weather

Joy, peace, love, music, art, literature

Information, research, advice, news, help

Air, water, fire, metal, wood, light

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Here are some rules about uncountable nouns:

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Uncountable nouns are singular, because we cannot count more than one of them.

Examples:

This music sounds beautiful. (note: we cannot say ‘These musics sound beautiful’.)

That information is very important. (note: we cannot say ‘Those informations are very important’.)

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2. Uncountable nouns do not take the indefinite article (a /an). It is incorrect to say ‘a rice’ or ‘a sand’, but we can use countable noun + of + uncountable noun.

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Examples:

a grain of rice, a litre of oil, a piece of bread

a volt of electricity, a drop of rain, a bag of money

a piece of music, a piece of art, a sense of peace

an item of news, a bit of advice, a piece of research

a litre of water, a ray of light, a type of metal.

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3. If we are talking about uncountable nouns in their general sense, without being specific, we do not use the definite article (the).

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Examples:

I love music. (note: this means ‘I love all music’ or ‘I love music in general’.)

Electricity can be dangerous. (note: this means ‘All electricity can be dangerous’, or ‘In general, electricity can be dangerous’.)

Bread is often made from wheat. (note: this means ‘In general, bread is often made from wheat’. In this sentence, there are 2 uncountable nouns – bread and wheat.)

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I will teach you how to use articles (a/an and the) in one of my future audio blogs on DailyStep.com

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5. If we are talking about uncountable nouns in their specific sense, we can also use possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her, its, our, their), or a demonstrative adjective (this, that).

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Examples:

My advice is to study English every day.

This wine is over 20 years old! (note: it is incorrect to say ‘Wine is over 20 years old’, because this would mean that all wine in the world is over 20 years old!)

Your tea is cold – shall I heat it up?

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6. We use some and any with uncountable nouns. We use any with questions and negative sentences. We use some with positive sentences.

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Examples:.

Do you have any bread? (note: ‘Have you got…?’ and ‘Do you have…?’ mean the same thing.)

No, I haven’t got any bread. (note: we do not say ‘ I haven’t got some bread’.)

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Is there any water in that bottle?

Yes, there is some water.

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5. We use much, not many, with uncountable nouns. We usually use much for questions and negatives, and we use a lot of or a great deal of for positives.

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Examples:

Have you got much luggage in your car? (note: we do not say ‘Have you got many luggage?’ However, it is correct to say ‘Have you got many bags?’, because we can count bags. Bags are countable.)

No, I have not got much luggage.

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How much milk is there in the fridge? (note: we do not say ‘How many milk is there in the fridge?’)

There is a lot of milk in the fridge. There are four bottles of milk! (note: we can also say ‘There is a great deal of milk in the fridge. This is more formal than ‘ a lot of milk’.)

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