English Vocabulary in Use Pre-intermediate and Intermediate » Unit 86: Uncountable nouns

Word List
  • a piece of sth
  • advice
  • behaviour
  • bin
  • (a) bit of sth
  • chance [opportunity]
  • chance [possibility that sth will happen]
  • equipment
  • experience [knowledge]
  • experience [sth that happens to you]
  • furniture
  • knowledge (of sth)
  • news
  • piece
  • pocket money
  • progress n
  • room [space]
  • rubbish
  • scenery
  • sleeping bag
  • tent
  • toast
Exercises

86.1 ‣ Make the uncountable nouns countable.

  1. I did some homework. I did .
  2. It’s useful equipment. It’s _____.
  3. It was good advice. It was _____.
  4. Do you want some more toast? Do you want _____.
  5. She’s making progress. She’s making _____.
  6. There’s some rubbish on the floor. There’s _____.
  7. I gave them some pocket money. I gave them _____.
  8. I heard some news this morning. I heard _____.

86.2 ‣ Complete the dialogues.

  1. A: Have you been given all the details?
    B: No, I need more .
  2. A: She hasn’t worked there long enough.
    B: No, she needs more _____.
  3. A: Is your flat big enough?
    B: No, we need more _____.
  4. A: Does she know what to do when she leaves school?
    B: No, she needs some _____.
  5. A: Don’t you think the room looks empty?
    B: Yes, we need more _____.
  6. A: Is his English getting better?
    B: No, he isn’t making any _____.

86.3 ‣ Complete the sentences. The first letter has been given to help you.

  1. I asked my teacher for some about grammar books.
  2. I’ve had some great _____ when I’ve travelled on my own.
  3. If we give him another _____, I’m sure he’ll be able to do it.
  4. That stuff over there is _____; just throw it in the bin.
  5. We camped on the hill above the lake because the _____ is so beautiful.
  6. I don’t know what’s wrong with Celia, but her _____ was very strange this morning.
  7. Do you have any _____ of working with computers?
  8. I don’t have any _____ of this subject; you’d better ask Fariah.
Answer Key
A ‣ Common uncountable nouns

One of the problems with uncountable nouns is that many of them are countable in other languages.

Common mistakes

I need information. (NOT I need an information.) (no indefinite article)

I need some information. (NOT I need informations.) (no plural form)

The homework was difficult. (NOT The homework were difficult.) (use with a singular verb)

  1. You can put all that rubbish in the bin over there. [things that you throw away because you do not want them]
  2. Is there any more news about the man who was injured?
  3. She gave me some good advice about buying a car. [what you think someone should do]
  4. Do the children get pocket money [money that parents give regularly to their children]?
  5. You need a lot of equipment for camping, e.g. tent, sleeping bag, torch, things for cooking, etc. [the things that are used for a particular activity]
  6. We sold the furniture [tables, chairs, armchairs, etc.].
  7. The scenery is really beautiful. [the natural beauty you see around you]
  8. My knowledge of Russian is limited. [what I know about it]
  9. She’s worked very hard and I believe she is making progress [improving / getting better].
  10. Can you take the dog? We haven’t got any room in our car. [empty space]
  11. Would anyone like some more toast?
  12. The children’s behaviour was terrible: they were climbing all over the furniture and making a lot of noise. [the way you do and say things]


  1. bin

  2. tent

  3. sleeping bag

  4. torch

  5. toast

B ‣ Uncountable nouns in dictionaries

Dictionaries show countable nouns with a (C) and uncountable nouns with a (U). Some nouns can be countable with one meaning, and uncountable with another.

experience (U) [the knowledge you get from doing a particular job or activity]
She’s got a lot of experience of working with children.
experience (C) [something that happens to you that affects the way you feel]
I had so many fantastic experiences on my trip to Thailand and Japan.

chance (U) [luck]
Lotto is a game of chance.
chance (C) [the opportunity to do something]
He’s had several chances to go abroad, but he’s just not interested.

C ‣ Making uncountable nouns countable

You can make some uncountable nouns singular. Sometimes we do this with a word like piece (for advice, equipment, toast, furniture, news), but in spoken English we often use a bit (infml) with most uncountable nouns.

a good piece of advice
an interesting bit of news
another piece of toast
just a bit of rubbish

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