Page 152 - English Grammar in Use

Unit
70 Countable and uncountable 2

A Many nouns are sometimes countable, and sometimes uncountable. Usually there is a difference in meaning.
Compare:
Countable Uncountable
Did you hear a noise just now? I can’t work here. There’s too much
(= a specific noise) noise. (= noise in general)
I bought a paper to read. I need some paper to write on.
(= a newspaper) (= material for writing on)
There’s a hair in my soup! You’ve got very long hair. (not hairs)
(= one single hair) (= all the hair on your head)
This is a nice room. You can’t sit here. There isn’t room.
(= a room in a house) (= space)
I had some interesting experiences I was offered the job because I had a
while I was travelling. lot of experience. (not experiences)
(= things that happened to me) (= experience of that type of job)
Enjoy your trip. Have a great time! I can’t wait. I don’t have time.

Coffee/tea/juice/beer etc. (drinks) are normally uncountable:
I don’t like coffee very much.
But you can say a coffee (= a cup of coffee), two coffees (= two cups) etc. :
Two coffees and an orange juice, please.

B These nouns are usually uncountable:

accommodation behaviour damage luck permission traffic
advice bread furniture luggage progress weather
baggage chaos information news scenery work

We do not normally use a/an with these nouns:
I’m going to buy some bread. or … a loaf of bread. (not a bread)
Enjoy your holiday! I hope you have good weather. (not a good weather)
These nouns are not usually plural (so we do not say ‘breads’, ‘furnitures’ etc.):
Where are you going to put all your furniture? (not furnitures)
Let me know if you need more information. (not informations)
News is uncountable, not plural:
The news was unexpected. (not The news were)
Travel (noun) means ‘travelling in general’ (uncountable). We do not say ‘a travel’ to mean a trip
or a journey:
They spend a lot of money on travel.
We had a very good trip/journey. (not a good travel)

Compare these countable and uncountable nouns:
Countable Uncountable
I’m looking for a job. I’m looking for work. (not a work)
What a beautiful view! What beautiful scenery!
It’s a nice day today. It’s nice weather today.
We had a lot of bags. We had a lot of baggage/luggage.
These chairs are mine. This furniture is mine.
That’s a good suggestion. That’s good advice.
There were a lot of cars. There was a lot of traffic.

140 Countable and uncountable 1 ➜ Unit 69 American English ➜ Appendix 7