Grammar Handbook: Mass and Count Nouns

The Center for Writing Studies, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Every noun can also be distinguished as count or mass.

:: Count Nouns
Count nouns are nouns that can be quantified or counted with a number.

A few examples:
: Names of persons, animals, plants, insects, and their parts: a boy, a kitten, a rose, an ear, three boys, seven kittens, twelve roses, two ears
: Objects with a definite shape: a building, a balloon, a house, an octopus, four buildings, six balloons, four houses, two octopi
: Units of measurement and words of classification: a gram, a pound, a piece, a lump, an item, a bit, a family, a state, a language, a phrase, a word
: Some abstract words: a hindrance, a scheme, an idea, a plan, a taboo, a rest

Tests for Count Nouns:
: Count nouns can be quantified by a number.
: They have singular and plural forms.
: They can use a, an, or one as a modifier.
: They can use "many" as a modifier.
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:: Mass Nouns
Mass nouns are uncountable by a number. Mass nouns are quantified by a word that signifies amount.

A few examples:
: Materials, food, metals, and natural qualities: bread, cotton, wood, lightness, adolescence
: Names of liquids, gases, and substances made of many small particles: cappuccino, oil, smoke, oxygen, rice, sugar, salt, cement, gravel
: Names of languages: English, Spanish, French, Latin, Sanskrit, Chinese
: Most gerunds: looking, listening, swimming, running, anticipating

Remember that a number can not be used to quantify a mass noun. Incorrect: four woods, one rice, three courages.

To measure or classify mass nouns, use "of" after a measurement: a foot of wood, a pound of rice, an ounce of courage, a bar of chocolate, a piece of music, a bag of money

Tests for Mass Nouns:
: Mass nouns are quantified by an amount rather than a number.
: They have only one form (singular).
: They cannot have "a," "an," or "one" before them as modifiers.
: They can use "much" as a modifier.
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