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Countable and Uncountable

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REVIEW
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ANSWER KEY
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Countable and Uncountable

Grammar Reference

Form Example
much / a littleuncountable nounsI have a little time — I can help.
many / a fewplural countable nounsA few of us are going — join us!
a lot of / lots ofboth countable and uncountableI have little time — I can't help.
a little (positive)at least some (uncountable)Very few people know the secret.
little (negative)almost none (uncountable)much noise · a little sugar
fewer / lessfewer = countable · less = uncountablemany books · a few friends

Countable and Uncountable — Exercises

Countable or uncountable?

Tap whether each noun is countable (C) or uncountable (U) in the context given.

  1. automation (the process of making things automatic)
    (U / C) 
  2. redundancy (an instance of losing a job)
    (C / U) 
  3. inequality (the abstract concept)
    (U / C) 
  4. carbon emission (a specific release of CO2)
    (C / U) 
  5. biodiversity (the variety of life)
    (U / C) 
  6. workforce (a group of workers)
    (C / U) 
  7. sustainability (the concept)
    (U / C) 
  8. breakthrough (a specific discovery)
    (C / U) 

Choose the correct quantifier

  1. There is ______ evidence that renewable energy reduces carbon emissions.
    (a great deal of / a large number of / many) 
  2. ______ workers were made redundant when the factory switched to automation.
    (A large number of / A great deal of / Much) 
  3. The company has ______ information about its digital footprint — too much to process.
    (a vast amount of / a great many / numerous) 
  4. ______ species have been lost as a result of deforestation in the past decade.
    (Numerous / Much / A great deal of) 
  5. There is ______ inequality between urban and rural communities in terms of job opportunities.
    (considerable / many / a number of) 

Open cloze — articles and quantifiers

Fill in each gap with a, an, the, — (no article) or a quantifier.

  1. automation of many traditional jobs has led to significant rise in inequality. number of workers facing redundancy has grown sharply. evidence suggests that retraining programmes help, but governments have invested enough. biodiversity is issue that is rarely linked to inequality, yet research shows the two are interconnected. carbon emissions and deforestation both threaten sustainability.

Error correction

  1. There are much inequality in developed economies.
  2. She has a lot of informations about data privacy breaches.
  3. The number of redundancies are rising due to automation.

Countable and Uncountable — Answer Key

Countable or uncountable?

  1. U
  2. C
  3. U
  4. C
  5. U
  6. C
  7. U
  8. C

Choose the correct quantifier

  1. a great deal of
  2. A large number of
  3. a vast amount of
  4. Numerous
  5. considerable

Open cloze — articles and quantifiers

  1. The

Error correction

  1. There is much inequality
  2. a lot of information
  3. is rising