Uncountable plural nouns

June 4th, 2008 · 4 Comments

Learner course books and learner grammars would lead us to believe that there are two kinds of English noun: Countable and Uncountable. This causes students and trainees to see the situation in the following way:

This is misleading for 2 reasons:

If English nouns are to be described grammatically, the most fundamental way to do so is by categorising them as either singular or plural.
The above model omits a fourth category of noun - uncountable plurals (one well-known grammar book that I have just taken off my shelf actually states that “uncountable nouns have no plurals”).

Let’s illustrate the four groups using two words: Glass and glasses.

(Photo by andertho)

(Photo by JG Jones)

(Photo by tacosnachosburritos)

Compared with the uncountable singular nouns, the family of uncountable plural nouns is relatively small. Here are 10 more members:

Trousers (are)
Clothes
Scissors
Pyjamas
Pants
Shorts
Dungarees
The police
Binoculars

It’s strange that course books tend to leave out this particular piece of grammar. Things seem to become clearer when it is included.

Tags: Countable and uncountable nouns · Grammar

4 responses so far ↓

1 Paul // Jun 12, 2008 at 11:08 pm

Jamie - Fireworks is countable!
E.g. A boy got hit by a firework…
Anyway, it might be two different things I’m refering to refering too: the object and the light that the fires create after the explosion of the firework. jejeje

Good article!
2 admin // Jun 15, 2008 at 11:13 am

Thanks for that Paul. Yes - you’re right. It’s a crap example. I don’t know what I was thinking of. I have removed it from the list. Thanks for keeping me right. Jamie
3 admin // Jul 2, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Words like the rich, the famous, the English, and the Chinese are also uncountable plurals. Here are some good examples:
- The good, the bad and the ugly
- Youth is wasted on the young
- The blind leading the blind
- The rich and famous
- Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor
- Only the lonely (Roy Orbison)
- Only the generous can make a sandwich worth eating (Nigel Slater)
- The good die young (consolatory expression)
- Return of the living dead (film)
4 David Shea // Sep 26, 2008 at 12:56 pm

Dear Jamie I read your recent article (”Grammar Drawings”) in the TESOL Spain journal and decided to incorporate doodles into my EOI classes here in Gran Canaria. As you point out in the article, it is great to use students’ work to create flashcards for future class activities. Thanks for the advice. Regards from GC, David Shea