USING LIKE, Countable And Uncountable Nouns

The word like can be confusing for students since it has many different meanings in English. Here are five of its common uses:

Five ways to use 'like'

Like = enjoy

I like coffee

To be + like = describe personality/characteristics

What is he like?

Like = the same as

This Coke tastes like Pepsi

Would like = want

I'd like a hamburger please

Look like = appearance

What does he look like?

Countable Nouns

Countable nouns are easy to recognize. They are things that we can count. For example: "pen". We can count pens. We can have one, two, three or more pens. Here are some more countable nouns:

• dog, cat, animal, man, person

• bottle, box, litre

• coin, note, dollar

• cup, plate, fork

• table, chair, suitcase, bag

Countable nouns can be singular or plural:

• My dog is playing.

• My dogs are hungry.

We can use the indefinite article a/an with countable nouns:

• A dog is an animal.

When a countable noun is singular, we must use a word like a/the/my/this with it:

• I want an orange. (not I want orange.)

• Where is my bottle? (not Where is bottle?)

When a countable noun is plural, we can use it alone:

• I like oranges.

• Bottles can break.

We can use some and any with countable nouns:

• I've got some dollars.

• Have you got any pens?

We can use a few and many with countable nouns:

• I've got a few dollars.

• I haven't got many pens.

"People" is countable. "People" is the plural of "person". We can count people:

• There is one person here.

There are three people here.

Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot "count" them. For example, we cannot count "milk". We can count "bottles of milk" or "litres of milk", but we cannot count "milk" itself. Here are some more uncountable nouns:

• music, art, love, happiness

• advice, information, news

• furniture, luggage

• rice, sugar, butter, water

• electricity, gas, power

• money, currency

We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb. For example:

• This news is very important.

• Your luggage looks heavy.

We do not usually use the indefinite article a/an with uncountable nouns. We cannot say "an information" or "a music". But we can say a something of:

• a piece of news

• a bottle of water

• a grain of rice

We can use some and

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