{"id":531,"date":"2012-03-05T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2012-03-05T14:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=531"},"modified":"2012-03-05T10:42:55","modified_gmt":"2012-03-05T15:42:55","slug":"count-and-non-count-nouns-the-exception-to-the-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/count-and-non-count-nouns-the-exception-to-the-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Count and Non-Count Nouns: The Exception to the -s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday<\/a>, I began a discussion and presented an overview of count versus non-count nouns.\u00a0 Today I\u2019m going to tell you about some exceptions to the rules I presented yesterday.\u00a0 There are almost always exceptions to the rules!<\/p>\n

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 <\/em>and general<\/em>, and the count meaning is concrete <\/em>and specific<\/em>.\u00a0 If you think of the meaning of a noun as being on a continuum,* where at on end of the continuum the noun\u2019s meaning is specific and the other end of the continuum represents the noun\u2019s general or abstract nature, you can see how a noun can move from being a count noun to a non-count noun.\u00a0\u00a0 This idea of a continuum in meaning is highlighted below with the noun, \u201cexperience,\u201d which we usually think of as a non-count noun.<\/p>\n

Here is an example:<\/p>\n

This teaching position requires experience<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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

Here is another example:<\/p>\n

He had many wonderful experiences<\/strong> as a teacher before he retired.<\/p>\n

In this sentence experiences is referring to specific<\/em>, countable moments<\/em> in the life of this teacher.<\/p>\n

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

For example:<\/p>\n

At the restaurant they only serve Italian and French wines<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In this sentence types of wines are being classified.<\/p>\n

The builders had some difficulties<\/strong> building the house.<\/p>\n

In this sentence types of difficult situations are being classified.<\/p>\n

Here are some non-count nouns that can never be used as count nouns (they can never have \u2013s added to them) in English: furniture, information, knowledge, softness, <\/em>or chaos.\u00a0 <\/em>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.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow I will continue to look at count and non-count nouns and the use of quantifiers with these two types of nouns.<\/p>\n

* continuum =\u00a0 a sequence in which adjacent elements are not perceptibly different from each other, but the extremes are quite distinct<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I began a discussion and presented an overview of count versus non-count nouns.\u00a0 Today I\u2019m going to tell you about some exceptions to the rules I presented yesterday.\u00a0 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…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[134956,135139],"tags":[170584,170746,171667,170985,171851],"class_list":["post-531","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-english-grammar","category-english-language","tag-count-and-non-count-nouns","tag-count-nouns","tag-mass-nouns","tag-non-count-nouns","tag-noncount"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t