Yesterday, I began a discussion and presented an overview of count versus non-count nouns.  Today I’m going to tell you about some exceptions to the rules I presented yesterday.  There are almost always exceptions to the rules!

Certain nouns in English can be both count and non-count nouns and when they are, they have both a count meaning and a non-count meaning that isn’t exactly the same. When this happens, normally the non-count meaning of the noun is abstract and general, and the count meaning is concrete and specific.  If you think of the meaning of a noun as being on a continuum,* where at on end of the continuum the noun’s meaning is specific and the other end of the continuum represents the noun’s general or abstract nature, you can see how a noun can move from being a count noun to a non-count noun.   This idea of a continuum in meaning is highlighted below with the noun, “experience,” which we usually think of as a non-count noun.

Here is an example:

This teaching position requires experience.

In this sentence the word experience is used in an abstract way; it is an idea, a general thing that people need to have in order to apply for this teaching job.

Here is another example:

He had many wonderful experiences as a teacher before he retired.

In this sentence experiences is referring to specific, countable moments in the life of this teacher.

Also, almost all non-count nouns can be used as count nouns when they are used in a classificatory sense; this means when they are used to classify a broad subject or area.

For example:

At the restaurant they only serve Italian and French wines.

In this sentence types of wines are being classified.

The builders had some difficulties building the house.

In this sentence types of difficult situations are being classified.

Here are some non-count nouns that can never be used as count nouns (they can never have –s added to them) in English: furniture, information, knowledge, softness, or chaos.  It is good to just take note of these nouns are rememebr never to add an -s to them, they are not part of the exception to this rule.

Tomorrow I will continue to look at count and non-count nouns and the use of quantifiers with these two types of nouns.

* continuum =  a sequence in which adjacent elements are not perceptibly different from each other, but the extremes are quite distinct