Countable nouns with a/an and some |
| A |
Countable nouns can be singular or plural:
a dog a child the evening this party an umbrella
dogs some children the evenings these parties two umbrellas
Before singular countable nouns you can use a/an:
- Bye! Have a nice evening.
- Do you need an umbrella?
You cannot use singular countable nouns alone (without a/the/my etc.):
- She never wears a hat. (not She never wears hat)
- Be careful of the dog. (not Be careful of dog)
- What a beautiful day!
- I've got a headache.
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| B |
We use a/an ... to say what kind of thing something is, or what kind of person somebody is:
In the plural we use the noun alone (not some .. . ):
- Those are nice chairs. (not some nice chairs)
| Compare singular and plural: |
| A dog is an animal. |
Dogs are animals. |
| I'm an optimist. |
We're optimists. |
| Tom's father is a doctor. |
Most of my friends are students. |
| Are you a good driver? |
Are they good students? |
| Jane is a really nice person. |
Jane's parents are really nice people. |
| What a lovely dress! |
What awful shoes! |
| We say that somebody has a long nose / a nice face / blue eyes / small hands etc. : |
| jack has a long nose. (not the long nose) |
jack has blue eyes. (not the blue eyes) |
Remember to use a/an when you say what somebody's job is:
- Sandra is a nurse. (not Sandra is nurse)
- Would you like to be an English teacher?
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| C |
You can use some with plural countable nouns. We use some in two ways.
(1) Some = a number of / a few of / a pair of:
- I've seen some good movies recently. (not I've seen good movies)
- Some friends of mine a re coming to stay at the weekend.
- I need some new sunglasses. (= a new pair of sunglasses)
Do not use some when you are talking about things in general (see Unit 75):
- I love bananas. (not some bananas)
- My aunt is a writer. She writes books. (not some books)
(2) Some = some but not all:
- Some children learn very quickly. (but not all children)
- Tomorrow there will be rain in some places, but most of the country will be dry.
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