How much ....? = uncountable nouns |
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For example: How much coffee do you drink? |
How many ....? = countable nouns |
For example: How many cups of coffee do you drink? |
How do you count uncountable nouns? You can't, but you can measure them. You have to use ‘counters’:-
Noun |
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Uncountable |
Sugar | Jewellery | Cheese | Wine | Furniture | Money |
Uncountable Question | How much sugar is there? | How much jewellery is there? | How much cheese is there? | How much wine is there? | How much furniture is there? | How much money is there? |
Answer | There's a lot of sugar. | There's some jewellery. | There's a lot of cheese. | There's some wine. | There's some furniture. | There's a lot of money. |
Add a word | bowl | piece | round | bottle | piece | bag |
Make it Countable |
A bowl of sugar. | A piece of jewellery. | A round of cheese. | A bottle of wine. | A piece of furniture. | A bag of money. |
Countable Question |
How many bowls of sugar are there? | How many pieces of jewellery are there? | How many rounds of cheese are there? | How many bottles of wine are there? | How many pieces of furniture are there? | How many bags of money are there? |
Answer |
There's one bowl of sugar. | There are two pieces of jewellery. | There are three rounds of cheese. | There's only one bottle of wine. | There are two pieces of furniture. | There are four bags of money. |
You can put something into a container to count it, but the thing you're counting doesn't take the plural form. The container takes the plural form:- | ||
bag | A bag of flour. | |
barrel | Two barrels of beer. | |
bottle | Three bottles of wine. | |
bowl | Four bowls of sugar. | |
box | Five boxes of cereal. | |
bucket | Six buckets of water. | |
can | Seven cans of Coke. | |
carton | Eight cartons of milk. | |
cup | Nine cups of coffee. | |
glass | Ten glasses of water. | |
jar | Eleven jars of honey. | |
packet | A dozen packets of butter. | |
a saucepan | Thirteen pans of rice. | |
tank | Fifteen tanks of petrol. | |
tin | Sixteen tins of custard. | |
tub | Seventeen tubs of margarine. | |
tube | Eighteen tubes of toothpaste. |
You can measure something to count it, but it still doesn't take the plural form. The measurement takes the plural form:- |
For example:- | |
litre | 1 and a half litres of milk. | |
pint | Two pints of beer. | |
pound / ounce / kilo etc... | Two pounds / ounces / kilos of butter. |
You can measure uncountable nouns in other ways, using shapes or portions. Again the measurement takes the plural form. |
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ball | Ten balls of wool. | |
bar | Three bars of soap. | |
pinch | Two pinches of salt. | |
slice | Five slices of cake. | |
spoon | Fourteen spoonfuls of sugar. | |
square | Nine squares of chocolate. |
What about money? Money is uncountable, but you can count how much money or cash you have. Accountants do it all the time. So, how much money have you got? |
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First you can put your money into piles. How many piles of money have you got? |
A pile of money | |
You can put money into bags. How many bags of money have you got? |
Two bags of money | |
You can use different currencies. How many English pounds have you got? |
Two pounds Two dollars Two euros |
£2$2€2 |
You can use different denominations. How many pennies/cents have you got? |
Two pennies Two cents |
2p2c |