Countable Nouns: When Fewer Is Less
I have a confession to make: Despite my wonderful grade-school experiences of nuns teaching grammar, I did not learn the definition of a countable noun until I started teaching basic writing classes myself at a local community college. Students who were learning English as a second language (ESL) taught me that term because they had to learn it—which is why many ESL students are good at telling us the difference between less and fewer, much and many, and other such pairs to describe countable or noncountable nouns.
Thanks to Rex for giving me this month’s topic.
A countable noun is a person, place, or thing of which there can be more than one: apple and apples, minute and minutes, child and children. A noncountable, or uncountable, noun is something that is, in itself, whole. You can’t have one of them or more than one of them. It is neither singular or plural, cannot be counted with numbers, and is often a concept or idea: information, money, milk, time, desire, sleep, and so on.
Singular countable nouns are preceded with the word one or with an article: a, an, or the. Plural countable nouns take the plural form, which usually means simply adding an “s,” but not always:
Please hand me an apple. I love apples.
That couple has a child. The other couple has two children.
Do not add a number before a noncountable noun, and do not make it plural. Sometimes, you can add the article “the” before a countable noun but never “a” or “an”:
Please provide more information. She did not give me the information I needed.
May I have milk for dinner? Here is the milk.
Knowing what nouns are countable can help with choosing the correct adjective to go with the noun. Here are some examples:
Fewer (countable noun) versus less (noncountable noun): “There are fewer glasses of water on the table than last night, and there is less water in the glasses.” Glass is countable, but water is not.
Many (countable noun) versus much (noncountable noun): “How many snowflakes can you catch on your tongue? We have much snow in our driveway.” Snowflake is countable, but snow is not.
Few (countable noun) versus little (noncountable noun): “I need a few more days because I had little time to complete this assignment.” Days is countable, but time is not.
Although you should never get into a fight at a grocery story with a grammarian about whether there are less bananas (it should be fewer) or much potatoes (it should be many), most adjectives can modify both countable and noncountable nouns: plenty of, any, no, some, and so on:
We have plenty of food and plenty of drinks.
Is there any money in the piggy bank? Are there any silver dollars in the piggy bank?
He has no advice and no ideas to offer.
I’m very excited and honored to be an invited guest author for the Delco Literacy Council fundraiser “The Champions of Literacy.” (Check out my Midnight Clear book cover with the others on the poster.) If you’re local, considering coming or sponsoring. Fundraisers can be on the pricey side, but this is a great cause.
As always, I look forward to your comments on this subject or any other grammar subject. Be sure to sign up for this newsletter on this website’s home page.