Comparing Places- Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Countable and uncountable guess the place

Work in pairs. Choose one place each to describe, e.g. the areas where you live. Take turns making a positive statement about your own place like those below and hearing the other person’s statement about the same thing. Each time decide which one sounds better when you look at that aspect, and give a point to that person each time. If you agree that they are more or less the same, you both get one point. The person with most points when your teacher stops the game wins.

Useful language for playing the game

I think that my place sounds better. I think that your place sounds better. I think that they sound about the same.

I agree Really? I think…

 

Scoring tables

Place A	Place B

 

Place A	Place B

 

Place A	Place B

Ask about any words on the worksheet that you don’t understand, working together to make true sentences with that word each time.

Do the grammar exercises.

Play the same game about different places, e.g. two cities that you both know.

Play the same game, but this time doing the opposite – talking about negative things and getting one point if you both agree that your place is worse in that way.   

 

Countable and uncountable nouns for describing places

There is	a lot of quite a lot of some a little/ not much no	affordable housing construction foreign food fun grass/ greenery history light nice food noise pollution public transport sky traffic water wildlife/ nature wind
There are	a lot of/ many quite a lot of some a few/ not many a couple of two one or two no	bicycle lane(s) bird(s)/ crow(s)/ sparrow(s)/ pigeon(s) café(s) cat(s) cicada(s) convenience store(s) discount shop(s) DIY shop(s) doctor’s clinic(s) dog(s) family/ families foreign person/ foreign people good school(s) highway(s) interesting shop(s) mosquito(s) new building(s) nursery school(s) park(s) rail line(s) supermarket(s) tall building(s) tasty restaurant(s) tree(s) university/ universities view(s) wild animal(s)
There is	one/ a/ an

 

Countable and uncountable nouns grammar presentation

From memory or your grammar knowledge, cross off the “-s” from the (mixed) words below which shouldn’t take it.

• affordable housings
• bicycle lanes
• birds
• buildings
• cafés
• cats
• cicadas
• convenience stores
• crows
• dogs
• families
• foreign people
• funs
• good schools
• grasses
• greenerys
• highways
• histories
• mosquitos
• natures
• nice foods
• nursery schools
• parks
• pigeons
• pollutions
• public transports
• rail lines
• shops
• skies
• sparrows
• supermarkets
• tasty restaurants
• traffics
• trees
• universities
• waters
• wild animals
• wildlifes
• winds

Hint: 13 can’t take “-s”

Look at the table on the next to page to start checking your answers, the first time with your pens down and trying to memorise any you missed.

Check with the table on the next page. Why can’t those words take “-s”?

		affordable housing construction foreign food fun grass/ greenery history light nature nice food noise pollution public transport sky traffic water wind
		bicycle lane(s) bird(s)/ crow(s)/ sparrow(s)/ pigeon(s) café(s) cat(s) cicada(s) convenience store(s) discount shop(s) DIY shop(s) doctor’s clinic(s) dog(s) family/ families foreign person/ foreign people good school(s) highway(s) interesting shop(s) mosquito(s) new building(s) nursery school(s) park(s) pigeon(s) rail line(s) sparrow(s) supermarket(s) tall building(s) tasty restaurant(s) tree(s) university/ universities view(s) wild animal(s)

Which group of words above are called “countable” and which group of words are called “uncountable”?

Which group of words goes with “There is…” and which group of words goes with “There are…”? Write those expressions in the correct boxes above. (One of those goes in two different places in the table).

Which of those groups of words go with each of the expressions below? Write them in the correct boxes above. Some go in more than one place.

• a
• a couple of
• a few/ not many
• a little/ not much
• a lot of
• an
• many
• no
• one
• one or two
• quite a lot of
• some
• two

Hint: Three need to go in two different places.

Put those words into the correct order, with the biggest amount/ number top each time.

Check with the first worksheet.