1. COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS AND ARTICLES

2. COUNTABLE NOUNS  Can be singular:  A job, a company, a biscuit  Or plural:  Few jobs, many companies, some biscuits.

3. UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS  Cannot be plural:  Health, clothing  Take a singular verb:  Petrol is expensive. Exercise is good.  Use certain words to refer to quantity:  A piece of furniture.  A sum of money.  A litre of petrol.

4. COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS  Many nouns can be countable or uncountable but with a change of meaning:  These grammar exercises are very easy. (= tasks to practice grammar)  Exercise is good for you. (= taking exercise in general)  The gallery was showing works by many artists (= paintings)  I don’t enjoy hard work. (= tasks and activities)

5. UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS  Advice, information and news are uncountable nouns. We cannot use them with a/an or in the plural. These nouns are uncountable in English, although they may be countable in other languages: accommodation, baggage, behaviour, equipment, fun, furniture, homework, housework, litter, luck, luggage, progress, rubbish, scenery, traffic, travel, weather, work

6. ARTICLES

7. SPECIAL USES OF ARTICLES  PLACES – we use the:  Oceans, seas, rivers: the Nile  Regions: the Far East  Groups of islands: the Philippines  Names of countries which include a word such as Republic, Kingdom, States or Emirates  Deserts and mountain ranges: the Alps  We say: the sea, the coast, the seaside, the country, the mountains, the hills

8. SPECIAL USES OF ARTICLES  PLACES – we don’t use the with:  Lakes: Lake Ness  Continents, most countries, states, cities, towns and villages: Europe, France, Florida, Rome  Buildings and locations which use the name of their town in the name: Manchester Airport

9. SPECIAL USES OF ARTICLES - the:  We use the with superlative adjectives and adverbs: He’s the best friend ever.  We use the when we refer to particular things: I love music but I don’t like the music you listen to.  With adjectives to express groups: the rich  With nationalities: the Spanish  With ordinal numbers used as adjectives: He won the first prize at the competition.

10. SPECIAL USES OF ARTICLES – a/an  JOBS: we use a/an to say what job someone does – He’s a teacher  DEFINITIONS: we use a/an to give a definition of something – A department store is a shop which sells a wide range of products.  EXCLAMATIONS: we use a/an with exclamations – What a beautiful day!

11. SPECIAL USES OF ARTICLES:  We use the or no article before some places with a difference in meaning:  The children are at school now. (= they are students there)  My father is at the school now. (= he is visiting it)  Peter spent a lot of time in hospital as a child. (= he was a patient)  Dr Stevens has an office in the hospital and another one at home. (= she works there)

12. SPECIAL USES OF ARTICLES  Some fixed expressions use the and some use no article:  We travel by train/bus.  We have lunch/dinner at home.  We listen to the radio (but we watch television)  We play the guitar (a musical instrument) and we play tennis (a sport)  We go to the cinema, the theatre, etc.