Catherine's Grammar Explanation: Uncountable nouns Catherine: Hello Edward! Actually Edward, Hina's mistake was with the noun 'homework'. She said that she had three homeworks. She should have said: Hina: My teacher gave me three pieces of homework today. Or she could say: Hina: My teacher gave me a lot of homework today. Or another way she could say it is: Hina: My teacher gave me three homework tasks today. So, what can we learn from Hina's mistake? Well, most nouns are either countable or uncountable, and it's important not to get them mixed up. With countable nouns, you can use numbers and plurals, so Hina could say Hina: My teacher gave me three essays today. She can say three, and use an 's' at the end of 'essay', because 'essay' is a countable noun. One essay, two essays, three essays. But homework is uncountable, so we can't say three homeworks. If we want to count homework, we have to add something to make it countable, like the word pieces. Here's Hina again: Hina: My teacher gave me three pieces of homework today. Or you can add a second, countable noun like tasks: Hina: My teacher gave me three homework tasks today. You can use words like some or a lot of Hina: My teacher gave me a lot of homework today. Hina: My teacher gave me some homework today. But you can't use numbers and plurals with uncountable nouns, and when it comes to articles, you can't say a or an either: you have to use 'the' or zero article. Some of the most important uncountable nouns to remember are: accommodation information equipment furniture pollution patience luggage weather rubbish advice Ok, that's all from me. Good luck with your grammar challenge! ...
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