Count nouns refer to things that can be counted and can be divided into smaller units that are separate and distinct from each other.

They usually refer to what can be seen individually.

Examples:

blackboard, chairs, tables, cup, goat, doctor, pen, hairclip

Count nouns refer to names of people, animals, or objects that can be seen as separate and individual.

Mass or noncount nouns refer to things that cannot be counted because they are regarded as a whole which cannot be divided into parts.

Example:

You are asked to make a cupcake. Your teacher shows you different ingredients used in making a cupcake and asks you to mix them together.

• How many kinds of ingredients are there?
• What happened when you put them all together?
• Can you still count them individually?

When you mixed the ingredients for the cupcake, you could not see the milk, the coffee, the flour, and the sugar individually in the batter because the ingredients could not be divided into different parts and became a whole unit - the batter.

Could you count each grain of sugar, coffee, or flour in the batter? You could not. Therefore, milk, coffee, sugar, and flour are called mass nouns.

Mass nouns are names of:

• things and liquids that occur in masses
• qualities of people or things, such as height or weight
• emotions such as love