Structure – Making Uncountable Nouns Countable. 

The focus here is to see how uncountable nouns can be made countable. Countable nouns are those we can count, they usually have singular and plural forms 

Example: girl – girls

box – boxes 

man – men 

ox – oxen 

Uncountable nouns are those that cannot be counted, and they therefore have only the singular form. 

Examples: sand, rice, sugar, water, soup, advice, information, furniture, equipment, blood, knowledge, etc. 

Uncountable nouns can however, be made countable in the following ways:

• Using partitives

A partitive is a word or phrase that indicates a part or quantity of something as distinct from a whole. Also called noun partitive. Partitives appear before non-count nouns as well as count nouns. 

Example: a piece/chunk of meat 

a bottle of wine 

a cube/pack of sugar.

a plate/pot of soup

a tin of milk.

A fit of anger

A glass/cup of water

A drop/pint of blood 

A loaf of bread

A bar of chocolate 

a piece of furniture 

a clove of garlic 

• Using Quantifiers

Quantifiers like partitives are used before nouns to indicate the amount or quantity. They can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns. 

Example: Step out for some fresh air 

Did you bring any luggage to the hotel? 

Add a little flour to the dough 

We had a lot of fun on our trip 

• Using the Indefinite Article

An uncountable noun becomes countable when used with the indefinite article to suggest a kind of

Example: bread 

clay

wine

behaviour

• Pluralization

1. Singular and plural forms related in meaning 

Plural Form Meaning

Cakes units of cakes 

Foods kinds of foods

Difficulties instances of difficulties 

1. Singular and plural forms remarkably different in meaning. 

Example 

Plural Form Meaning 

Works factories/books

Lights camps/torches 

EVALUATION

Make the following uncountable nouns countable: 

mucus news petrol darkness 

butter information 

• Summary – Writing Answers to Model Summary Passage – Food and Nutrition in Practice by J. Anazonwu – Bello, Effective English, pg 228. 

According to the passage, food is necessary for quick recovery from ill health. Every individual must acquire knowledge of nutritional values and meal preparation

EVALUATION

Answer the questions that accompany the passage. 

• Vocabulary Development – Words Commonly Misspelt

Wrong Spelling Correct Spelling

Millenium Millennium 

Delibrate Deliberate 

Priviledge Privilege 

Curiousity Curiosity 

Neccessary Necessary 

Occurence Occurrence 

Begining Beginning 

Arguement Argument 

Truely Truly 

Occassion Occasion 

Recieve Receive 

Possesion Possession 

Disatisfaction Dissatisfaction

Dinning Dining 

Goverment Government 

Supplementery Supplementary 

Questionaire Questionnaire 

Billionnaire Billionaire 

EVALUATION 

Correct the following misspelt words 

aggresive secretray believe (noun) sergaent paralell

• Writing – Semi-formal Letter

This refers to a letter written to a distant adult relative, an adult family friend, distant pen-pal or an adult acquaintance. It has a lot in common with the informal letter, but also differs from it in many respects, which makes it semi-formal.

Features of a Semi-formal Letter.

1. Only one address i.e. writer’s address.
2. Salutation – This comes after the address and it depends on the level of familiarity e.g. ‘Dear 

Uncle Wale’ 

1. Introduction – (Par. 1): Exchange of pleasantries and reason for writing the letter.
2. Body of the letter 

Paragraphs 2, 3, and 4. Here, at least three or more points are discussed. The focus should be the purpose for writing, be it to seek advice, ask for favour, show appreciation for help rendered etc. 

3. Conclusion (Par. 5) Sending of greetings is allowed here. 

4. Subscription: This is usually ‘Yours sincerely’ as it is in an informal letter. No signature is required. 

Note that the tone has to be respectful. Use of colloquial expressions must be limited to the barest minimum and use of slang is not allowed. The language should be direct, rather than wordy and circumlocutory as in an informal letter. 

EVALUATION

You were travelling on a long journey when you got to a point midway on your journey and the vehicle in which you were travelling broke down. It was getting dark and you were anxious to get to the nearest town. Fortunately, somebody whom you had never met, came along and offered you a lift in his car. You also put up with him or her for the night until the second day when you continued your journey and you eventually reached your destination. Write a letter of gratitude to him/her.

GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISIONAL QUESTIONS

1. Give the past and past participle forms of the following verbs: 

awake find hold sweep

beat forget leave swell

cling freeze shut swing

drink grind sow take

feel hide stand wring 

1. Fill in the blank spaces with the correct forms of the verbs in brackets 

1. The child had __________ the entire bottle before I came in (drink)
2. After I told Kola of the accident, he _____________ to cry (begin)
3. When prices __________ consumers feel happy (fall)
4. The wind has __________ away my shirt (blow)

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT 

Section A

Select the correct answers from the brackets.

1. A (little/few) boys are still eating in the dining hall
2. There is (few/little) water for Akin to drink: Please get (a/some) more. 
3. Do you know there are (less/lesser) days in February than January.
4. The rain this year is (fewer/lesser) than that of last year. 
5. You know there is a (few/little) space we can only stay for a (few/little) minutes.
6. We have (many/much) men, yet there isn’t (much/many) to be done 
7. Just put in (little/few) salt and give me (a/some) biscuits and a (few/little) orange juice. 
8. Go and cook (few/some) rice and prepare (a/an) stew with the fresh fish I bought.
9. You make (many/much) noise. I hope you will talk (little/less) when you finish serving the punishment. 
10. Sade has put into the soup (many/much) pepper. The rice even contained (much/many) stones and (much/many)salt. No wonder I couldn’t eat it.