5

Uncountable nouns and their countable equivalents (general/particular pairs)

Uncountable Countable

1. accommodation a place to live (not an accommodation)

2. baggage a piece/item of baggage; a case/trunk/bag

3. bread a piece/slice/loaf of bread; a loaf; a roll

4. chess a game of chess

5. chewing gum a piece of chewing gum (not a chewing gum)

6. equipment a piece of equipment; a tool, etc.

7. furniture a piece/article of furniture; a table; a chair, etc.

8. information a piece of information

9. knowledge a fact

10. lightning a flash of lightning

11. luck a piece/bit/stroke of luck

12. luggage a piece/item of luggage; a case/trunk/bag

13. money a note; a coin; a sum

14. news a piece of news

15. permission a permit

16. poetry a poem

17. progress a step forward; an advance

18. publicity an advertisement

19. research a piece of research; an experiment

20. rubbish a piece of rubbish

21. slang a slang word/expression

22. thunder a clap of thunder

23. traffic cars, etc.

24. vocabulary a word/expression

25. work a job; a piece of work

26. clothing a garment

27. laughter a laugh

Words to express a big or small piece of the item

Bar of soap/chocolate/metal/gold sheet of paper/glass/steel

Cube of sugar/ice strip of cloth/paper

Dollop of jam/honey/mashed potatoes slip of paper/wage slip

Grain of sand/rice pane of glass

Hunk of cheese/bread/meat blade of grass

Pinch of salt flight of stairs

Rasher of bacon/ham head of hair

Slice of bread/ham/pizza set of cutlery

Speck of dust/dirt

Squeeze of lemon/lime

Wad of banknotes/cash/bubble gum/dollar bills

Chunk of plaster/bread

Lump of coal/rock

Flakes of snow/skin/dandruff

Fleck of paint/mud/dust/dirt

Crumbs of bread/cake

Bundle of banknotes/twigs

Bunch of flowers/keys/grapes

Sheaf of papers/notes

Block of ice/wood/stone

Slab of concrete/marble/stone/meat

Singularia Tantum nouns (single invariable nouns)

advice fun music violence

assistance

applause fives mumps weather

anger generosity news

gossip ninepins

behaviour harm nonsense

billiards hair photography

bowls health parking

camping homework pay

cash housework poetry

chaos housing pollution

checkers hospitability produce

conduct information progress

courage importance publicity

creeps interest refuse

cutlery jewellery resistance

dancing knowledge rickets

darts leisure safety

debris litter scenery

dirt luck shopping

dominoes machinery shingles

draughts measles sightseeing

education German measles smoking

employment money sunshine

equipment moonlight transport

evidence mud underwear

Words ending in –s which do not change in the plural

barracks species means innings gasworks

series headquarters Swiss kennels golf-links

crossroads works (=factory) bellows gallows

Pluralia Tantum nouns (plural invariable nouns)

clothes Pair objects nouns

data glasses

goods spectacles

earnings trousers

stairs pants

thanks jeans