Countable / Uncountable: Explanation

Countable / Uncountable

• Details

Name of Item	Countable or Uncountable
Activity Type	Grammar / Discussion
Student Level	lower Intermediate - Intermediate
Time Allowance	20 minutes or less
Preparation Required	preparing to explain grammar and answers to questions
Other Items Needed	Nothing special
Vocabulary	lonely / Euros / profits
Grammar	Quantifying words for uncountable / countable nouns

• Instructions

A basic knowledge of Countable / Uncountable nouns is assumed at the beginning. But you may want to revise / find out what the students already know about this problem and about the words we use to indicate quantity in both cases. Once you are sure they are comfortable with the concept, present them with the sheet and ask them to identify the sentences containing mistakes and try to correct those mistakes. This activity may benefit from being a collaborative group one but this will depend on the nature of your class.

As a reference, sentences 2, 4, 5, and 9 are correct and all the others contain one or more mistakes with countable / uncountable quantity words. I have heard variations of number 3 spoken to me again and again and it's worth pointing out just how amusing this sounds to a native speaker.

The students should be able to use some of the information from the first part to complete the grid at the bottom of the page. Words should be classified as follows, unless you disagree.

Countable: few / very few / many / not many
Countable & Uncountable: no / loads of / plenty of / a lot of / quite a lot of / hardly any
Uncountable: not much / little / very little / a bit of