The Count Noun
Recognize a count noun when you see one.
Nouns name people, places, and things. Many nouns have both singular and plural forms. If you can add a number to the front of a noun and put an s at the end of it, you have a count noun. Check out these examples:
Beatrice offered Jeremy a chocolate-chip cookie.
Jeremy, an impolite pig, grabbed all seventeen cookies off of the plate.
Cookie is a count noun. You can have one cookie, or you can be a pig like Jeremy and have seventeen cookies.
Remember that some nouns are noncount.
You cannot count all nouns. To make a noncount noun plural would be illogical. Read the following sentence:
Jeremy apologized for his rudeness, but his growling stomach stopped him from returning any of the cookies to the plate.
Rudeness is an example of a noncount noun. Jeremy does not have five rudenesses. Such a statement would make absolutely no sense!
Look over this chart contrasting count and noncount nouns:
Count Nouns Noncount Nouns hurricane(s)
chair(s)
smile(s)
bagel(s)
book(s)
assignment(s)weather
furniture
happiness
flour
information
homework