Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Chris:	I’m doing research on immigration and Ellis Island.
Jessica:	Really? My ancestors immigrated on a boat from abroad and came through New York City harbor. They got a great view of the Statue of Liberty. They wept.
Chris:	I bet they arrived on Ellis Island right next to the Statue of Liberty. Ellis Island used to be the place new immigrants to the Unites States were processed.
Jessica:	Exactly. Today, it is a museum. If your immigrant ancestors came through Ellis Island, the US still has a record. If you know the name, you can find out exactly when your ancestors arrived in the United States and on what ship and other information.
Chris:	Did you do that?
Jessica:	Yes. I could hardly breathe enough, I was so excited when I looked at the records. I had to go to the cafeteria and get some tea with lots of sugar to calm myself down. Of course, names were often changed upon arrival in the US. If the immigration officer in charge did not catch your name right away, he used to make one up. Thankfully, that did not happen in the case of my family members.
Chris:	Do you know what happened with your ancestors after they were free to leave Ellis Island?
Jessica:	I found out that my great-great-grandfather on my mother’s side and his wife and three children arrived in 1898. They lived in New York City for a while. Family legend has it that they burned the candle on both ends trying to make it in a new land. That cannot have been easy. They came with nothing.
Chris:	That is a beautiful story. Millions of people came through Ellis Island from its opening in 1892 to its close in 1954. 40% of all Americans can trace their ancestry to at least one immigrant who came through Ellis Island. They came because of the promise of freedom. As it says on the statue itself: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”.
Jessica:	That is the beginning of a poem by Emmy Lazarus. It was engraved on the Statue of Liberty in 1903.
Chris:	It’s too bad, that many Americans today seem to have changed their minds on this sentiment. Legal immigration is now tightly regulated.
Jessica:	Oh, anti-immigration feelings and regulations are not new. Every generation of new immigrants has tried to close the doors behind them. There was prejudice against the Irish, the Germans, the Italians, Eastern Europeans, you name it.
Chris:	But they were let in anyway. In the 19th century the only thing you needed to get in was good enough health to pass the medical exam. You did not have to be rich or educated or even literate.
Jessica:	Well, you sort of had to be white. Let me remind you of the Chinese exclusion act of 1882 that locked the door to the Chinese essentially until 1943.
Chris:	True. In 1917, congress passed legislation that barred entrance to all kinds of so called “undesirables.” Big parts of the globe that are non-white were excluded. Poor people were now banned. So were the mentally ill, alcoholics, illiterates, anarchists and the list goes on and on.
Jessica:	No more huddled masses?
Chris:	No. And the law stood until 1952. Also on the list: Homosexuals. The ban against gay people technically remained on the books until… 1990.
Jessica:	1990?
Chris:	1990.
Jessica:	Yes, the history of immigration in this country is definitely… complicated.

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Nouns can be either countable or uncountable. This decides which determiners to use with each and if the noun has a plural form or not.

I. Countable Nouns

Countable nouns refer to something that can be counted, such as tables or cars. They have both singular and plural forms (ex.- table/tables, computer/computers, woman/women). The majority of nouns fall into this category. In their singular form, countable nouns can be used with a or an.

She bought a computer for the office. ✔ Correct She bought two computers for the office. ✔ Correct

II. Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable nouns refer to things that cannot be counted individually, such as sunlight or milk. Because they cannot be counted, they do not have a plural form. Examples include: rain, flour, sand, wine, or wood. Uncountable nouns are often abstract things that we cannot see or touch, such as humor, happiness, sadness, sunlight, or vision. They can't be used with a or an.

I had milk with dinner last night. ✔ Correct I had two milks with dinner last night. ✘ Not correct

III. Quantifiers with Uncountable Nouns

While countable nouns can be used with indefinite articles to express one of something, uncountable nouns can be used with some to refer to a normal amount of the noun.

For dessert, I’ll have a chocolate bar. And I’ll have some ice cream.

Other uncountable nouns have specific quantifiers that allow us to refer to a certain amount of an uncountable noun. For example, soda is an uncountable noun, but a can of soda refers to a specific amount of soda. Other common, specific quantifiers include: a cup of coffee, a bottle/pint/can of beer, a bottle/glass of wine, a loaf/slice of bread, and a slice of pizza.

IV. Implied Quantifiers

Sometimes, especially when speaking, we use a noun that is uncountable as a countable noun because the quantifier is implied. For instance, we’ll say “a coffee” without a quantifier instead of “a cup of coffee”, even though we’re implying that we mean a cup of it.

I like coffee. Uncountable I’ll have a coffee, please. Countable, refers to one cup of coffee. I’ll pick up some beer on the way to the party. Uncountable She ordered two beers from the bartender. Countable, refers to a glass/can/bottle of beers.

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Fill in the blanks with a or some.

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Select ‘C’ if the noun is countable and ‘U’ if it is uncountable.