Non-count nouns

Cannot be counted. They usually express a group or a type.

• water, wood, ice, air, oxygen, English, Spanish, traffic, furniture, milk, wine, sugar, rice, meat, flour, soccer, sunshine, etc.

Generally cannot be pluralized.

Work both with and without an article (a, an, or the), depending on the context of the sentence.

• Sugar is sweet.
• The sunshine is beautiful.
• I drink milk.
• He eats rice.
• We watch soccer together.
• The wood is burning.

Work with expressions such as (some, any, enough, this, that, and much).

• We ate some rice and milk.
• I hope to see some sunshine today.
• This meat is good.
• She does not speak much Spanish.
• Do you see any traffic on the road?
• That wine is very old.

Do NOT work with expressions such as (these, those, every, each, either, or neither).

[Quiz 2.1]

Choose all of the non-count nouns in the following list:

wine, student, pen, water, wind, milk, computer, furniture, cup, rice, box, watch, potato, wood

Possessive Nouns

Possessive nouns are used to indicate ownership.

Possessive nouns usually are formed by adding an apostrophe (') and s.

• John's book
• Kerry's car
• Grandma's mirror

When a noun is plural and ends in s, just add an apostrophe (').

• The kids' toys
• My parents' house
• The teachers' lounge

If two people own one thing, add the apostrophe and s to the second person only.

• John and Mary's new house
• David and Sue's wedding
• Tom and Doug's car

If two people own separate things, add the apostrophe and s for each person.

• Susan's and Beth's books
• Jean's and Dan's pants
• Ben's and Jim's offices

[Quiz 3.1]

Which of the following is not correct?

1) Dr. Hunts has a new computer.
2) Dr. Hunts's new computer is working well.
3) Dr. Hunts' computer is new.

Pronouns

A pronoun takes the place of a noun.

Example story:

Mary is one of the heads of the ToJi Corporation. Mary works with Mr. James and Mr. James' son Tom. Mr. James and Mr. James' son Tom are experts in biochemistry. Mary, Mr. James, and Tom researched and invented a drug for cancer treatment.

If the story above is written using pronouns:

Mary is one of the heads of the ToJi Corporation. She works with Mr. James and his son Tom. He and his son Tom are experts in biochemistry. They researched and invented a drug for cancer treatment.