What are nouns that represent things which cannot be counted called?
ACountable Noun
BMaterial Noun
CAbstract Noun
DUncountable Nouns
Answer:
D. Uncountable Nouns
Read Explanation:
Uncountable Nouns: Definition and Characteristics
What are Uncountable Nouns?
- Uncountable nouns, also known as mass nouns, refer to things that cannot typically be counted as individual units.
- These nouns represent abstract ideas, qualities, substances, or concepts that exist in bulk or as a whole.
Examples of Uncountable Nouns:
- Substances: water, milk, rice, sand, air, gold, wood, coffee, sugar
- Abstract Concepts: happiness, sadness, honesty, bravery, advice, information, knowledge, peace
- Activities/Processes: work, sleep, research, education, music, news
- Qualities: beauty, strength, courage
Grammatical Features:
- Uncountable nouns are always treated as singular in grammar.
- They do not take a plural form (e.g., we say 'some water', not 'waters').
- They are not typically used with the indefinite articles 'a' or 'an'.
- Quantifiers like 'much', 'little', 'a lot of', 'some', and 'any' are used with them. For example: 'much effort', 'a little patience', 'some advice'.
- To quantify uncountable nouns, we often use partitive nouns or phrases like 'a piece of', 'a cup of', 'a grain of', 'a bit of'. For instance: 'a piece of information', 'a cup of coffee', 'a grain of sand', 'a bit of advice'.
Distinction from Countable Nouns:
- Countable nouns (also known as count nouns) represent things that can be counted as separate items and have both singular and plural forms (e.g., 'book'/'books', 'chair'/'chairs').
- Uncountable nouns, by contrast, do not have distinct individual units that can be enumerated.
Common Exam Pitfalls:
- Confusing uncountable nouns with plural countable nouns.
- Incorrectly using 'a'/'an' before uncountable nouns.
- Using plural verbs with what should be singular uncountable nouns.
- For competitive exams, recognizing common uncountable nouns and their correct usage with determiners and verbs is crucial.