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LEVEL III: PLURAL OR SINGULAR?

To make things simple, at this level there are only two basic rules:

• If the “new” noun is plural, then use the indefinite article some.
• If the “new” noun is singular, the decision must be made as to whether it is a count or noncount noun which leads to the final criteria.

LEVEL IV: COUNT OR NONCOUNT?

Rules Concerning Count and Noncount Nouns:

• Noncount nouns are nouns that cannot be used in the plural.
• Noncount nouns cannot be counted with numbers.
• Noncount nouns cannot be used with the article a or an.
• Count nouns can be used in the plural, counted with numbers, and used with either the article a or an.

NOTE: The best way to test whether or not a word is a noncount noun is to make the noun plural. If the plural of the word does not make sense in the context of the sentence or is not grammatical, then the noun is a noncount noun.

NOTE: Noncount nouns are often used to make generalizations, especially about abstractions. Therefore, words used as such should always be tested to see whether or not they are noncount nouns.

NOTE: Many noncount nouns can be categorized into clear groupings based on their meaning.

EXAMPLES:

Abstractions:	intelligence, peace, hope, beauty, luck. . .
Gerunds:	thinking, procrastinating, blinking. . .
Food:	salt, meat, rice, butter. . .
Liquids and Gases:	coffee, tea, wine, water, air, oxygen. . .
Materials:	wood, glass, sand, plastic. . .
Languages:	Russian, English, Spanish, Japanese. . .
Academic Fields:	literature, chemistry, biology. . .
Sports and Games:	soccer, baseball, football. . .
Natural Phenomena:	space, electricity, energy. . .
Weather Words:	thunder, hail, weather. . .

NOTE: At times noncount nouns may be used with the plural marker -s to mean, generally, “different kinds of.” For example, coffee is a noncount noun that when used with an -s at the end means “different kinds of coffees,” as in the sentence: