This document provides information about countable and uncountable nouns in English. It explains that countable nouns refer to things that can be counted, while uncountable nouns refer to substances or concepts that cannot be divided into separate elements. Examples are given of countable nouns like "apple" and uncountable nouns like "water". Rules are presented for using "a", "an", and "some" with countable and uncountable nouns. The document also covers forming questions using "how many" with countable nouns and "how much" with uncountable nouns. Exercises are included for students to practice these concepts.

1. Sustantivos: Plurales y Singulares
Universidad de Santiago
Profesor: Camila Pizarro F.
Objetivo: Esta guía tiene por propósito entender correctamente la diferencia entre sustantivos contables y
sustantivos incontables para poder expresar correctamente las cantidades.
Nivel: Primer año Medio, según los Planes y Programas desarrollados por el Ministerio de Educación, publicados
en www.educarchile.cl.
Primera Unidad de Estudio.
Sector: Idioma Extranjero, Inglés
Fuentes: http://www.alcantara.cl/penalolen/v2/sala/material%20de%20estudio/6basico2009/COUNTABLE
%20AND%20UNCOUNTABLE.pdf

2. NOUNS ARE DIVIDED IN : countable and uncountable.
Countable nouns are easy to recognize. They are things you can count. For example: “apple” We can have one,
two, three, etc.
Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts, etc. that you see as a whole, things you can not count because
they can not be divided into separate elements. For example, we can’t count “water”. We can count “bottles of
water” or “litres of water”, but we cannot count “milk” itself.
Do we use a, an or
some for these words?
1. Book
2. Wine
3. Rice
4. Apple
5. Music
6. Tomato
7. Rain
8. Cassette
9. Egg
10. Food
- Fill in the gaps with some, any or a - an.
1. I’m really thirsty. I need______ __ water, please.
2. I went to the library, but I couldn’t find____ ____ books about art.
3. Can you give me_______ __ coffee, please?
4. She sent_____ ___ postcards to her friends, but she didn’t make_______ phone calls when she
was in Britain.
5. It’s very sunny but there is only_________ child playing in the street.
6. I bought__________ coffee, but I didn’t buy________ tea or________ papaya.
7. Have you got__________ chocolate biscuits? I’m sorry, there are____________ biscuits left.
8. “Mary, I’m afraid there isn’t__________ juice in the fridge but there’s__________ pineapple.
9. They ate____________apples,___________ mango, but they didn’t eat___________ oranges.
10. A. “Would you like___________ cheese? It’s delicious”. B. “Ok, give me__________.”
Look at these rules
• We use "a" with objects we can count the begin with a consonant Example: a book
• We use "some" with object we can not count Example: some milk
• We use "an" with object we can count that begin with a vowel Example: an orange

3. Asking questions for countable and uncountable objects
- Complete the questions using much or many
1. How _____ money do you have?
2. How_____ people live in your city?
3. How _____ does that pen cost?
4. How _____ water is there?
5. How _____ rice is in the cup?
6. How _____ apples do we need?
7. How _____ children are in the class?
8. How _____ copybooks do you have?
- Complete with much or many and a word from the box
Money – Car s- Furniture – Fish - People – News – Things - Children – Coffee – Time
1. How ____________ __________ are there in the picture? Two. A yellow and a green one.
2. How ____________ __________ have you got on you? One pound twenty.
3. How ____________ __________ are there in your choir?
4. How ____________ __________ have you received from your uncle? I haven't heard from him lately.
5. How ____________ __________ would you like with your rice? Just a little, please.
6. How ____________ __________ has he got?Two. A son and a daughter.
7. I do not have to do _________ ________. I only do the washing up
8. He had so ____________ _________that he could not sleep.
9. How ____________ ___________ have we got to finish the project?
10. I won't take too _________ __________ with me. Only a suitcase and a handbag.
Look at these rules
• We use "How many" for questions using countable or plural objects Example: How many books do you
have?
• We use "How much" for questions using a non-countable or singular object Example: How much does
juice is left?
• We use "How much" for questions asking about ONE object Example: How much does the book cost?
• Most plurals are formed by adding "-s" to the noun or object Example: book + -s = books. Some of the
more important exceptions include: man - men, child - children, person - people, woman - women