countable and uncountable nouns quantifiers exercises pdf

In this sense, mechanical recitation could be completely avoidable since there must be rules to follow. As a result, all languages are likely to have similar concept formation processes. The Importance of Identifying the Uncountable Nouns As a result of language usage, grammars evolve (Carter & McCarthy, 2017) when people sort out the logic generated by the way people understand and use language - every language is based on the logical order of people's understanding of things.

Without a fine line between countable and uncountable, all they can do is to memorise the words mechanically. And it always ends up with students grinding away at memorising ‘the list of uncountable nouns’. As a result, when teachers tell their students to check the countability of the nouns by checking if they can be counted in real-life situations, it always seems like an impossible task for most (see Liu & Zhou, 2017, p. In Chinese, for example, there is no such thing as uncountable nouns, and most things can be ‘counted’ with proper quantifiers. Those non-native speakers of L2 English who haven’t come across the concept of countability in their L1 may find all of these confusing. And with modifiers, some uncountable nouns can immediately be countable (fruit, tropical fruits). However, this distinction can only be used to make general judgments instead of absolute truth, not to mention the fact that some nouns in English can even be both countable and uncountable (e.g., a fish, fish). Generally speaking, individual nouns and most collective nouns are countable, while proper nouns, material nouns, abstract nouns, and a small number of collective nouns are usually uncountable. The countability of a noun determines whether it is countable or uncountable in English. The Challenge in Teaching Countable and Uncountable Nouns In the process of English teaching and learning, we will often encounter such two grammatical terms - countable nouns and uncountable nouns. Distinguishing between Countable and Uncountable Nouns 1.1.

Countable and uncountable nouns quantifiers exercises pdf