【精彩講座】
我們都知道英語中的名詞可以分為可數(shù)名詞和不可數(shù)名詞，但是我們很難分辨到底哪些名詞是可數(shù)或不可數(shù)的，也很難分辨哪些不可數(shù)名詞也可以用作可數(shù)名詞。
為此，我們來看看Liz Walter是如何解釋的。
Many dictionaries for learners of English show whether nouns are ‘countable’ or ‘uncountable’, often using the abbreviations C and U. Countable nouns are things that you can count – one dog, two dogs, twenty dogs, etc. Uncountable nouns are things that you cannot count – water, sadness, plastic, etc.
很多英語詞典對名詞是否可數(shù)進行了標注，一般用C（countable）代表可數(shù)名詞（如dog），U（uncountable）代表不可數(shù)名詞（如plastic）。
1）It is important to know whether a noun is countable or uncountable, otherwise you are likely to make basic grammar mistakes. For example, countable nouns can have indefinite articles and can form plurals, but uncountable nouns cannot （可數(shù)名詞可以被不定冠詞修飾，可以有復數(shù)形式，但不可數(shù)名詞不行）:
正確：You should bring a coat. (coat是可數(shù)名詞)
正確：I have three winter coats.
錯誤：The teacher gave us a homework. (homework是不可數(shù)名詞，不定冠詞a要去掉)
錯誤：We have lots of homeworks. （homeworks要改為homework）
2）If you have countable and uncountable nouns in your own language, you need to be very careful because they may not be the same ones. If I had ￡1 for every time one of my students has said or written ‘a(chǎn)n advice’ or ‘some informations’, I would be very rich by now! In English, advice and information are both uncountable nouns, so they cannot have ‘a(chǎn)n’ in front of them and they cannot be made plural.
有些名詞只能用作不可數(shù)名詞，比如advice和information。所以，我們不能說an advice或many informations，而只能說a piece of advice或much information。
3）Other common uncountable words that often cause problems are: equipment, furniture, transport, knowledge, countryside, traffic, research, progress, evidence, machinery.
以上這些粗體標示出來的單詞都是不可數(shù)的，所以沒有復數(shù)。
4）You also need to know whether a noun is countable or uncountable in order to decide whether to say much or many. ‘Many’ is used with plural countable nouns and ‘much’ with uncountable nouns（當我們在使用many或much時，就要注意識別它們所修飾的名詞是否可數(shù)）:
正確：How many brothers and sisters do you have?
錯誤：How much brothers and sisters do you have?
正確：How much money do you have?
錯誤：How many moneys do you have?
5）Some and any are used with plural countable nouns and uncountable nouns, but not with singular countable nouns（some和any只能用來修飾可數(shù)名詞復數(shù)或不可數(shù)名詞，不能用來修飾單數(shù)可數(shù)名詞）:
正確：We don’t have any eggs/sugar.
正確：Would you like some mushrooms/cheese?
錯誤：Do you have any coat?（coat要改為coats）
6）Sometimes we may want to make an uncountable noun more like a singular countable one. We do this by using a quantity expression before it（不可數(shù)名詞的數(shù)量，常通過表量的名詞來表達，即：a+表量的名詞+of；其復數(shù)是通過表量的名詞來體現(xiàn)的）:
錯誤：She gave us an advice/information.
正確：She gave us a piece of advice/information.
錯誤：We bought a few furnitures/clothings.
正確：We bought a few items of furniture/clothing.
7）Finally, some uncountable nouns end in ‘s’. They include activities such asaerobics, athletics, gymnastics and darts; academic subjects such aseconomics, linguistics, politics and physics and illnesses such as measles, mumps, rabies and diabetes. These nouns look like countable plurals, but they are uncountable and therefore need a singular verb（一些表運動項目的名詞、表學科的名詞和表疾病的名詞常以s結(jié)尾，但都是不可數(shù)名詞，要視作單數(shù)）:
Linguistics is a very interesting subject.
Aerobics makes you fit.
You will probably notice that some words in the dictionary are labelled both C and U. In my next post, I’ll look at some of these words and explain how nouns can be both countable and uncountable.
英語中還有些名詞既是可數(shù)的，又是不可數(shù)的，我們將在后面繼續(xù)探討。
如果覺得好，歡迎繼續(xù)關(guān)注廖懷寶的原創(chuàng)微信訂閱號“新概念英語的教與學”！
