How do you count uncountable nouns? You can't, but you can measure them. You have to use ‘counters’
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Noun
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Uncountable
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Sugar
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Jewellery
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Cheese
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Wine
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Furniture
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Money
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Uncountable Question
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How much sugar is there?
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How much jewellery is there?
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How much cheese is there?
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How much wine is there?
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How much furniture is there?
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How much money is there?
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Answer
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There's a lot of sugar.
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There's some jewellery.
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There's a lot of cheese.
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There's some wine.
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There's some furniture.
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There's a lot of money.
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Add a word
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bowl
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piece
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round
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bottle
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piece
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bag
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Make it Countable
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A bowl of sugar.
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A piece of jewellery.
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A round of cheese.
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A bottle of wine.
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A piece of furniture.
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A bag of money.
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Countable Question
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How many bowls of sugar are there?
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How many pieces of jewellery are there?
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How many rounds of cheese are there?
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How many bottles of wine are there?
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How many pieces of furniture are there?
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How many bags of money are there?
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Answer
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There's one bowl of sugar.
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There are two pieces of jewellery.
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There are three rounds of cheese.
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There's only one bottle of wine.
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There are two pieces of furniture.
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There are four bags of money.
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Other words you can add to make uncountable nouns countable:-
You can put something into a container to count it, but the thing you're counting doesn't take the plural form. The container takes the plural form:-
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bag
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A bag of money.
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barrel
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Two barrels of beer.
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bottle
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Three bottles of wine.
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bowl
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Four bowls of sugar.
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box
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Five boxes of cereal.
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bucket
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Six buckets of water.
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can
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Seven cans of Coke.
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carton
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Eight cartons of milk.
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cup
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Nine cups of coffee.
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glass
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Ten glasses of water.
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jar
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Eleven jars of honey.
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packet
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A dozen packets of butter.
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a saucepan
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Thirteen pans of rice.
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tank
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Fifteen tanks of petrol.
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tin
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Sixteen tins of custard.
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tub
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Seventeen tubs of margarine.
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tube
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Eighteen tubes of toothpaste.
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You can measure something to count it, but it still doesn't take the plural form. The measurement takes the plural form:-
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For example:-
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litre
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1 and a half litres of milk.
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pint
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Two pints of beer.
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pound / ounce / kilo etc...
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Two pounds / ounces / kilos of butter.
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You can measure uncountable nouns in other ways, using shapes or portions. Again the measurement takes the plural form.
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ball
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Ten balls of wool.
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bar
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Three bars of soap.
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pinch
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Two pinches of salt.
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slice
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Five slices of cake.
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spoon
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Fourteen spoonfuls of sugar.
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square
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Ten squares of chocolate.
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excellent note and exercise!!
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