English Vocabulary in Use Elementary » Unit 55: Common uncountable nouns

Word List
  • accommodation
  • advice
  • air
  • apple
  • bread
  • butter
  • coffee
  • countable
  • furniture
  • information
  • kilo
  • litre
  • loaf
  • luggage
  • milk
  • money
  • news
  • plate
  • rice
  • shoe(s)
  • spaghetti
  • sugar
  • tea
  • traffic
  • travel
  • uncountable
  • water
  • weather
  • work
Exercises

55.1 ‣ Fill the gaps with an uncountable noun from the opposite page.

  1. I’d like to buy a car but I haven’t got enough .
  2. Cows give us _____ and _____.
  3. If you don’t know what to do, ask your parents for some _____.
  4. The _____ at the seaside is very good for you.
  5. Rob left school last month and is now looking for _____.
  6. There is always a lot of _____ in central London.

55.2 ‣ Match the words on the left with the words on the right.

  1. heavy
  2. useful _____
  3. bad _____
  4. modern _____
  5. brown _____
  6. cold _____
  7. space _____
  1. a) information
  2. b) travel
  3. c) water
  4. d) luggage
  5. e) news
  6. f) furniture
  7. g) bread

55.3 ‣ Fill the gaps with the correct form of the verb be.

  1. Accommodation in the city centre expensive.
  2. Spaghetti with Italian tomato sauce _____ very good.
  3. The weather in Scotland _____ best in the autumn.
  4. The news _____ better today than it _____ yesterday.
  5. Travel _____ the most important thing in Sam’s life.
  6. Their furniture _____ very old and very beautiful.

55.4 ‣ Correct the mistakes in these sentences.

  1. The news are not very good today.
  2. Where can I get some informations about your country?
    _____
  3. Let me give you an advice.
    _____
  4. Cook these spaghetti for ten minutes.
    _____
  5. Can I have a bread, please?
    _____
  6. We need to buy some new furnitures.
    _____
  7. The east of the country usually has a better weather than the west.
    _____
  8. I must find a new accommodation soon.
    _____

Over to you

Use a dictionary to check if these words are countable or uncountable and make a note of them in your vocabulary notebook:
equipment
biscuit
homework
vehicle

Answer Key
A ‣ What are countable and uncountable nouns?

COUNTABLE You can count them: four apples, two shoes.

UNCOUNTABLE You can’t count it. [NOT three luggages]

Can I have three apples and some sugar, please?
Are these shoes yours? Is this luggage yours?

B ‣ Everyday uncountable nouns

This furniture is modern.

The traffic is bad today.

I’ll give you some advice about your future.

He can give some useful information about Bangkok.

There is some bad news today.

It’s terrible weather today.

Accommodation here is expensive.

I need some fresh air.

Studying is hard work.

Air travel is faster than rail travel.
C ‣ Food

A lot of uncountable nouns are kinds of food and drink.

Note: When we want to say how much we want, we say two loaves of bread, three litres of milk, a kilo of rice.

Tip

When you learn a new noun, write it down in a phrase which shows if it is countable or uncountable.

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