Uncountable and plural nouns

1. The weather was terrible, but at least there wasn’t much traffic. The scenery is beautiful here, but it’s spoiled by all the rubbish people leave.

2.We bought some new furniture for the garden. That’s a lovely piece of furniture.

3. Iron is used for building bridges.

I need to buy a new iron. My old one’s broken.

1. The following nouns are always uncountable: behaviour, traffic, weather, accommodation, health, progress, scenery, rubbish, work, politics (and other words ending in –ics, e.g. athletics, economics).

· They always need a singular verb, they don’t have plurals, and they can’t be use with a/an.

2. These nouns are also uncountable: furniture, information, advice, homework, research, news, luck, bread, toast, luggage, equipment. Use a piece of to talk about an individual item.

3. some nouns can be either countable and uncountable, but the meaning changes, e.g.iron=the metal, an iron=the thing used to press clothes. Other examples: glass, business, paper, light, time, space.

Plural and collective nouns

1. Your clothes are filthy! Put a pair of/some clean trousers on.

2. Our staff are very efficient.

 

· Arms (=guns, etc.), belongings, clothes, manners, outskirts, scissors, trousers/shorts are plural nouns with no singular. They need a plural verb and can’t be used with a/an.

· If they consist of two parts, e.g. scissors, trousers, shorts, they can be used with a pair of or some.

· Crew, police, staff are collective nouns and refer to a group of people. They need a plural verb.

EXERCISES

Read the following text and find out countable and uncountable nouns. Translate the text into Kazakh/Russian.

Education system of Kazakhstan

The educational system in Kazakhstan is conducted in two languages - Kazakh and Russian and consists of several levels of state and private educational establishments: infant schools, elementary (or primary) schools, comprehensive schools, colleges and academies. The constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan fixes the right of citizens of the republic on free-of-charge secondary education which is obligatory. The constitution prohibits any discrimination on the basis of language or ethnicity and guarantees equal rights in education regardless of nationality. Children start school at the age of 7 and finish at 17. As a rule a child attends the school, located in the neighborhood. However, in big cities there are so-called special schools, offering more in depth studies of the major European languages (English, French, German) or the advanced courses in physics and mathematics and children, attending one of this may have to commute from home.

2. Make up at least five sentences by using following nouns.

academic degree accomplishment active learning assignment bilingual education books bookstores brainstorming critical thinking desks diploma

Pre-listening activity

1. Read the following words and then discuss how these words can be connected with the theme “The Internet”:

founder

creation

force for good

museum

energy

protests

trolling

negativity

history

server

website

reminder

currently

future

collaborating

change

While-listening activity

Listen and fill in the gaps

The founder of the Internet, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has spoken about his creation _________ he helped to conceive it. He said it has been _____________, but it also has___________. Mr Berners-Lee was speaking to the BBC at London's Science Museum. He said: "Everywhere I look I see a mass of energy, ___________, and also in some places, they are using the web for organized protests against oppressive regimes." He also _______ the growing use of the Internet for trolling and negativity. He said: "It's staggering to me that people who must have been _________like anybody else will suddenly become very polarized in their opinions and will suddenly become very hateful instead of very loving."
Berners-Lee was at the Science Museum to view an important part of___________. The museum will house the server that hosted_____________. It is part of a new exhibition called the _____________. The machine still has a reminder on it written by Berners-Lee that warns: "This machine is_________. Do not power it down." Berners-Lee is currently the director of an organization called________________, which oversees the Web's continued development. Talking about the future of the Internet, he said: "Maybe we will be able to build web-based tools that help us keep people on the path of collaborating rather than fighting." He hopes the Web will remain"_________________".

 

Post-listening activity