WEBVTT

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Hello I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!

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In this lesson we're focusing on English nouns. Why?

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Because so many of the mistakes that you're making in English

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are related to the way that you use nouns.

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Starting from the top, there are two types of English noun

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countable and uncountable English nouns.

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Now, you might be thinking

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"yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... Whatever it doesn't really matter!"

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But actually, it does matter.

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It really really does, for a whole lot of reasons!

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Like, how to use articles correctly.

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How to use 'much' and 'many', 'so' and 'such',

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'some' and 'any' or 'a little' and 'a few'.

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These words all depend on the type of noun

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and learning and understanding more about countable and uncountable nouns

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and how they're used differently

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will dramatically improve your English grammar!

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I guarantee you that some of the mistakes that you're making in English

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are because you are treating an uncountable noun like a countable noun,

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or a countable noun like an uncountable noun!

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Now, I've made a 'cheat sheet' to help you understand these rules

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and I'm going to tell you how to
download it at the end of this lesson.

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In this video we're focusing on
uncountable nouns

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but you can check out another video on countable nouns right
there.

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Okay! So, the kitchen is a great place

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to start talking about countable
and uncountable nouns.

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It's been a while since mmmEnglish has been in the kitchen,

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so I'm very excited to be back here!

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The easiest way to remember uncountable nouns

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is to think about nouns that are difficult to count.

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Things like liquids, water, or wine.

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Gases the air,

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or powders like flour.

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Or things like electricity, money or abstract nouns like

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happiness, motivation and luck.

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Now, all of these nouns, if you think about it, are difficult to count.

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Uncountable nouns have only one form.

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They can't be plural.

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You can't use 'a' or 'an' with uncountable nouns

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because they can't be counted.

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You can't use numbers with them at all.

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We can't say "I need a milk" or "give me 3
monies".

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But you can use some with uncountable nouns

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and that just means 'an amount', but not a specific amount.

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"Can you get some rice from the supermarket for me?"

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We can also use uncountable nouns without 'some'.

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"Can you get rice from the
supermarket for me?"

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(That's) perfectly okay as well!

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For example, to make pancakes I need
to make, I need to have some flour.

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I need to have some sugar, some water

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and maybe even some maple syrup.

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All of these nouns are uncountable

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but we do need a way to quantify these nouns,

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especially when you're cooking in the kitchen.

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We need to know how much to use!

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And that's easy to do when you're talking about countable nouns,

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like 'a lemon' or 'an apple'

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but with uncountable nouns

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you need another countable noun to help you quantify

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your uncountable noun.

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A packet of rice,

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a cup of oil,

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a can of coconut milk,

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2 litres of water, for example.

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And all of a sudden, all of these things can become countable!

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Notice how I was using an article with all of those nouns?

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Now, this is all great in the
kitchen but what about outside of the kitchen,

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with nouns like information or
happiness or money, luggage, advice!

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It's the same idea! A piece of information,

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a moment of happiness,

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a bit of luck or a bit of money,

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two pieces of luggage or

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I've got three pieces of advice for you!

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Let's recap on uncountable nouns for a
moment.

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They have only one form.

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They're never plural.

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You can't use
articles like 'a' or 'an' with them

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and can't use numbers.

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You can't say 'an information' or 'two luggages'

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or 'three advices'.

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Okay? Fabulous!

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Don't forget that you can download this worksheet

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to help you practice using uncountable nouns correctly.

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Now, there are some uncountable nouns that you'll

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see being used as plural nouns.

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Eeeek!

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But before you freak out,

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these exceptions are related to the context

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and just for a moment this is going to get a little bit confusing.

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But be patient, stay calm!

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I'm going to help you to understand right now!

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Let's use coffee as an example!

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I've got some instant coffee here,

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some coffee beans and of
course,

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a delicious cup of coffee.

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Now, the liquid is uncountable

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and so is the powder that's in instant coffee.

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Now, you can count the
beans but that's less common.

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So, we need some other countable nouns

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to tell us some more information about the noun.

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A jar, a packet or a kilogram a cup.

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But you might hear someone say

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"I'll have a coffee with two sugars please."

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Huh?

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Coffee and sugar are both uncountable!

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How can that be?

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Well simply, the context will
tell us that

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it means a cup of coffee

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and two teaspoons of sugar.

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The same if someone said "We'll take three waters."

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It means three bottles of water or three
glasses of water.

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So, how do you know if a noun is countable or uncountable?

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It's easy!

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In the dictionary when you look up this word

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you'll see [U] or a [C] next to that noun.

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It will tell you if it's countable or uncountable

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and instantly, you'll know how you can use this noun,

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especially once you download the
worksheet that's going to help you.

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It's really important because remember
there's lots of different words

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that you can use in English

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with uncountable nouns that you can't use with countable nouns.

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There's a little water in my cup.

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There's a few waters in my cup.

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There's too much information.

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There's too many informations.

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So, it's really important that you're using the correct

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English word with these nouns.

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Now, before I finish

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I want to tell you some of the
biggest mistakes

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that I see with uncountable nouns in English.

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Advice, knowledge,

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information, news,

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luggage, equipment

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and furniture

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These are all uncountable nouns.

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They have only one form.

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So, that's it for this lesson!

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I hope that you're feeling a little more confident

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with uncountable nouns now.

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Remember that you can watch the countable nouns

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lesson, right here!

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Make sure that you subscribe to my channel,

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so that you never miss a lesson!

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There's a couple more lessons in this playlist

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that you might enjoy too!

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That's it for now, but I will see you
again very soon!

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Bye!