Count and Non-Count Nouns

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COUNT AND NON-COUNT NOUNS 1. INTRODUCTION: Nouns are words that stand a person, place, thing, or idea. Whatever exists, we assume, can be named, and that name is a noun. There are two types: A proper noun is a name given to a specific person, place, or thing. They begin with capital letters no matter where it occurs in a sentence (Charles, Egypt, San Diego, Poseidon, etc.) It will name a specific that is usually a one-of-a-kind, it represents a unique entity. Common nouns describe an entire group of entities (village, women, people, etc.) It does not need to begin with a capital letter. The important thing to remember is that common nouns are general names. Thus, they are not capitalized unless they begin a sentence or are part of a title. Also, when we want to express only one thing, we use Singular Form; but when we want to express more than one thing, idea or whatever, we use Plural Form and it has a specific classification about Irregular forms that are connected with Count and Non-Count Nouns: There are some common types of irregular plurals that occur, and some words simply have no plural form at all. While it is useful to memorize the common irregular plurals, for many words you simply have to know and understand that it is an irregular plural as a result of speaking and hearing English. Certain nouns in English belong to both classes: they have both a non-count and a count meaning. Compare: * COUNT meaning is concrete and specific: I've had some difficulties finding a job. (It refers to a number of specific problems). Plurals of count nouns are formed by adding the "s", "z" or "es" sound to the end of the word. The “a/an” determiner may not be used, but “the, these and those” should be taught. * NON-COUNT meaning is abstract and general: She succeeded in school with little difficulty. (It refers to the
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