Count and Noncount Nouns Exercises

Exercise 1

Are the following nouns count or mass? Put an M next to the mass nouns and a C next to the count nouns.

world    ____           banana   ____
textbook ____           conduct  ____
acid     ____           progress ____
smoking  ____           biology  ____
poetry   ____           essay    ____
applause ____           shopping ____

Exercise 2

Put an X next to the nouns in the following list which can be used as both count and mass nouns.

defense    ____         rain    ____
beauty     ____         rug     ____
garbage    ____         nature  ____
experience ____         bag     ____
baggage    ____         emotion ____

Exercise 3

Fill in the blank with the form of the noun in parentheses that is appropriate to the grammatical context of the sentence and the meaning of the passage as a whole.

Diabetes: Beyond the Basics

Because diabetes can cause devastating _______ (damage, damages) to virtually all body ______, (system, systems) a person with diabetes should not underrate the seriousness of his/her diabetes. Learning to live with a chronic ______ (illness, illnesses) such as diabetes needs to be an ongoing process.

Lafayette Home Hospital's Center for Family Life Education is sponsoring a five-part educational series on diabetes. The series will begin on April 30 and continue through May 29, 1984. The ______ (program, programs) will be held in the second floor classroom of the Education Center from 7-9 p.m.

The diabetes series is free and open to the public and will be of specific ______ (interest, interests) to those persons who have diabetes, their family and friends.

Exercise 4

On the basis of the rules just given, (Rules for Using Articles: Writing Lab handout #69) which combinations are permitted and which ones aren't? Put an asterisk (*) next to the incorrect combinations.

____ a table            ____ these person
____ the poetry         ____ a difficulty
____ this furniture     ____ that assignment
____ a research         ____ this eggs
____ a boy              ____ those argument

Exercise 5

Fill in the blanks with the appropriate article if one is needed.

The Computer Jungle

Though you can make ____ decision on purely economic grounds, buying ____ computer is often more like joining ____ religious cult. Buy ____ Apple, for example, and almost by default you join Apple chairman Steve Jobs in his crusade against IBM. Every machine has its "users' groups" and ____ band of loyal enthusiasts who tout its merits. That makes it all ____ more difficult for ____ uninitiated to decide what machine to buy. Students have ____ huge advantage, however. The computer companies are so eager for students' business (it builds "brand loyalty") that many offer huge discounts.

In the past six months, IBM, Apple, and others have brought out new computers -- and ____ fierce competition has forced prices down. But time is on your side: next year at ____ time you'd have even more choice and more computing power and features for ____ same price. On ____ other hand, this will probably be true for many years. So for those who need or want ____ computer now, here are some suggestions.