Definition and Examples of Count Nouns & Mass Nouns
COUNT NOUNS & MASS NOUNS – Here are the definition and examples for count nouns and as well as its opposite – the mass nouns.
The parts of speech that is most-common to individuals is the noun. It refers to the name of a person, place, thing, event, etc. Often times, nouns play as the subject in the sentence.
Nouns have a lot of kinds – Proper Nouns and Common Nouns being two of its kinds. Aside from the aforementioned types of nouns, there is another pair of types of nouns.
In this article, we will talk about the Count Nouns and the Mass Nouns. These two(2) types of nouns depend on the possibility or impossibility to count the noun.
COUNT NOUNS
Based on Oxford Dictionaries, this type of noun refers to those that can be counted. It is also called as “Countable Nouns” and often preceded by a or an. Nouns under this type have singular and plural forms.
Examples:
- Pencil – Pencils
- Student – Students
- Hospital – Hospitals
- Mouse – Mice
- Goose – Geese
- Jacket – Jackets
- Paper – Papers
- Pig – Pigs
Sample Sentences:
- A hospital serves the sick people.
- The students went inside the room as soon as they saw teacher Lilia.
- The paper and jacket on top of the table are mine.
- An old book was left at one of the chairs inside the canteen.
- The park with children playing may not be excellent for your dog.
MASS NOUNS
The mass noun is the opposite of the count nouns. Based on Oxford, this refers to nouns that cannot be counter. Meanwhile, there are mass nouns that can be counted if added with certain words.
Examples:
Mass: Soda
Count: Pint of soda
Mass: Sugar
Count: Three packs of sugar
Mass: Sand
Count: Five sacks of sand
Mass: Coffee
Count: Two cups of coffee
Sample Sentences:
- The coffee was spilled on the table
- The sand is too dry during the summer season.
- The juice was made by Tino.
- He added sugar to his chocolate drink.
- The soda he bought was not delivered.