Sous-titres (134)
0:08hi everybody my name is Alisha welcome
0:10back to English class 101 comms YouTube
channel today I'm going to talk about
0:14uncountable nouns I'm going to talk
about a few points related to
0:18uncountable nouns and some words we can
use with uncountable nouns I'm going to
0:23talk about the ways we can use units to
count parts of uncountable nouns and I'm
0:29going to talk about some quantifiers and
some questions which we can use with
0:33this grammar point so let's get started
okay so the first point here about
0:38uncountable nouns uncountable nouns are
nouns we cannot count so count a bowl
0:44means able to count this prefix unn
means not the negative so not countable
0:50nouns we cannot count we cannot use one
two or three to count numbers of these
0:56nouns with uncountable nouns
we can use some determiner so
1:02determiners are for example or an or the
this that my his and so on with
1:09uncountable nouns we can use for example
this and that and we can use possessives
1:15like my his her our and so on however we
cannot use a or an with uncountable
1:23nouns this is because a and an are used
for the singular forms of nouns and we
1:30don't have a singular or plural form
necessarily for uncountable nouns so we
1:35cannot use or an because these two
articles are used for singular forms so
1:41please be careful of this some
determiners like this and that are fine
1:45and possessives are okay but not a or an
okay also when you want to make a
1:52general statement you should use no
determiner no determiner so know this
1:57know that know the or whatever unless
you want to make a statement a general
2:02statement about a specific group or a
specific object a specific mass entity
2:09for example we'll talk a little bit
about this later
2:12so let's take a look at some common
uncountable nouns then I've also
2:18included here though their units so by
units I mean ways to count the parts of
2:23these nouns so we cannot count these
nouns because they're sort of they're
2:29thought of as like a mass they're
thought of as kind of a group or yeah a
2:34group or an assembly of many many
different parts so we don't count the
2:38the group itself the mass itself however
we can count the parts within that group
2:44so let's take a look at the first
example maybe the most important one
2:48time so time is an uncountable noun we
don't count one time two times or three
2:54times we don't do that however we count
parts of time measurements of time so
2:59for example all of these are countable
nouns seconds minutes hours days weeks
3:05months years decades millennia these are
all the countable nouns we use to count
3:13the parts of time we cannot count time
we can count the parts of time only
3:18let's look at one more example money so
money we cannot count money one money to
3:24money three money we don't do that
instead we count the parts for example
3:29cents dollars yen pounds euro pesos for
example we use the currency the type of
3:36money and the denominations the pieces
or the parts within that that that
3:42currency to count so we cannot count
money but we can count the the type of
3:48money we can count currency amounts okay
another couple that are fairly common
3:55are beer and wine so drinks for example
we don't count beer necessarily as a
4:01group we can say one beer to refer to
one drink of beer we can say that
4:07however but in general for liquid when
you see a lot of liquid we don't say one
4:13beer to beer instead we counted by the
serving so for example with beer we use
4:19glasses pints half pints mugs kegs
growlers these are a few ways that we
4:26can
count beer these are all countable nouns
4:29a similar rule applies to wine we don't
say really one wine two wines we can use
4:36that to mean one single drink but there
are sometimes different ways that we
4:41need to explain one so we use these
words glasses or bottles or decanters so
4:48we use decanter of wine bottle of wine
in these cases not one wine or two wines
4:54make sure to say like bottle or decanter
to refer specifically to the type of
5:00measurement you need another very common
example is clothes so clothes is kind of
5:06a category of items it's a type of item
there there are many different kinds of
5:10clothes so we count for example shirts
sweaters socks shoes hats pairs of pants
5:18we don't say one clothes - clothes three
clothes instead we count these smaller
5:23items inside the category of clothes ok
just a couple more examples food is
5:29another very very big one so food itself
we don't really say one food - food
5:34three food instead we count inside food
for example snacks drinks salads
5:40appetizers pizzas breadsticks cakes
whatever so the the food the dish itself
5:45we couch the dish but not food as a
category finally air is another one we
5:52don't count air with numbers we can
count parts of air but if you want to
5:57know we can use for example molecules to
talk about components pieces of air if
6:02you like so these are just a few
examples of uncountable nouns and some
6:07of the unit's we can use to count the
parts within those uncountable nouns ok
6:13next let's head over to how to make a
few questions so similar to countable
6:19nouns we can use uncountable nouns to
make information questions to make
6:24requests to make offers but one key
point here is when you're asking a
6:29quantity question with an uncountable
noun you need to use much so when you're
6:35using a countable now and you should use
how many plus the plural form if you're
6:39using an
countable noun you need to use how much
6:42plus your noun how much time how much
money how much beer for example there's
6:48no s to add at the end there's no plural
form that we need to think about just
6:53the uncountable noun and any other
information how much beer did you drink
6:58how much time do you have for example so
please use much when you're making a
7:03question with an uncountable noun second
do you plus a verb any plus your
7:11uncountable noun so we can change this
verb in the sentence depending on what
7:17we need but this is a general
information question like do you need
7:22any time or do you need any new clothes
for example so we just used the
7:28uncountable noun here at the end of this
phrase to make an information question
7:33another common pattern would be a
request so can I have some bla bla bla
7:38can I have some wine can I have some
food of course you can use a unit here
7:43if you like if you want to be specific
but if you want to be general mmm like
7:48can I have some more time on this
project we can use an uncountable noun
7:52in this sentence pattern as well of
course there are many different sentence
7:56patterns but these are a few questions
that might be helpful for you ok let's
8:01look at the last thing for today
quantifiers quantifiers so we use
8:06quantifiers to talk about amounts of
nouns in this case I'm going to talk
8:11about some quantifiers we can use to
talk about the amounts of uncountable
8:16nouns so we can use first at the end of
the spectrum here at around like zero
8:22I've kind of made a scale here from zero
a like know of something there's no
8:27amount there's zero of something to a
lot of something 100 at the other end
8:32I've made kind of a scale of a few
quantifiers so here we can say no I have
8:38no time we can use don't plus a verb
plus any like I don't have any time mmm
8:45also is over here at the zero part we
can say I have almost no time meaning
8:51very very little
for example so very little and almost no
8:55would go about here here we can say not
much I have not in parentheses because
9:01you just need to use the negative form I
don't have much time or I don't need
9:06much to drink for example so we can use
much here but we need to use a negative
9:11in this case we can also use hardly any
with uncountable nouns so I have hardly
9:19any time to work on this project or I
have hardly any wine in my refrigerator
9:24for example we can use a bit of I have a
bit of beer to drink a small amount so I
9:32have a small amount of time this
afternoon if you're free we have a
9:36decent amount of so oh there's a decent
amount of time this afternoon if that's
9:43better for you we can use some as well
some again is kind of vague it's not so
9:50clear the quantity with some but if you
just want to refer to having some have
9:55it making it available you can use some
so like we might say I have some clothes
10:00I want to throw away we can use lots of
and a lot of so I drank a lot of beer
10:07last night or I drank a lot of wine last
night it might be a common sentence you
10:10can hear we can use quite a lot of quite
a lot of so I have quite a lot of time
10:15this weekend let's do something we have
the casual tons of and a bunch of - so I
10:22have tons of time or I have a bunch of
new clothes to try on for example and we
10:29can also use all all so you could say
who drink all the beer or who ah let's
10:37see there's another example mmm someone
took all my clothes for example we can
10:42use all with uncountable nouns as well
so again these are just a few examples
10:46of some expressions you might hear with
uncountable nouns you'll see - as with
10:54countable nouns we can use some of these
as I've marked with the green star here
10:59some of these are okay to use with
countable nouns and uncountable
11:03double nouns so if you get stuck you can
try to remember which ones are are okay
11:09for both countable and uncountable nouns
for example lots of and a lot of some is
11:14good almost no is pretty handy pretty
useful as well another point here I want
11:20to mention this is a problem that many
students have is using much in positive
11:25statements of quantity for example I
have much money I have much time we
11:29cannot use much in this way we should
use I have a lot of time I have quite a
11:34lot of time much is used with negatives
so I don't have much time for example I
11:40don't have much money we can only use
much for a quantity statement with a
11:45negative form so please don't use much
to make a positive statement about
11:50quantity please be careful this is a
very common mistake all right but those
11:55are a few points I wanted to make about
uncountable nouns today if you have any
11:59questions or comments or you want to try
making an example sentence please feel
12:03free to do so in the comment section
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12:15very much for watching this episode and
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