Countable and Uncountable Nouns Exercises

In English, every noun is either countable or uncountable, and this decides which words you can put before it. Countable nouns are things you can count one by one: one apple, two apples, three apples. They have a singular form (apple) and a plural form (apples), and you can use a or an before the singular: "I ate an apple." Uncountable nouns are things you cannot count individually: water, rice, information, advice. They have no plural form — you do not usually say "two waters" or "three informations." (In cafes and restaurants, "two waters" is a common shortcut for "two glasses of water," but this is a special spoken usage.)

Many learners find uncountable nouns difficult because some words that are countable in other languages are uncountable in English. Common examples include advice, furniture, news, and homework — all uncountable in English. You say "a piece of advice," not "an advice." Learning which everyday nouns are uncountable is one of the first steps towards choosing the right quantifier, and this distinction is tested regularly in Cambridge A2 Key examinations.