Notion of countability and use of number forms

• • Drinks and food => generally uncountable, can have countable interpratation w servings of drink or food

  -> E.g. coffee & a cup of coffee

  • Varieties/kinds => uncountable nouns can be given countable interpretation when they refer to different kinds

  -> E.g. Two strengths

  • Animals and food => countable when refering to animal, uncountable when referring to food of that animal

  ->E.g. One turkey in the zoo & turkey for dinner
• • Abstract nouns and instances => uncountable nouns denoting abstract concepts can ben used in countable sense when referring to an instanse of said abstract concept

  -> E.g. Experience & several odd experiences

  • Abstract nouns and results => can be countable when referring to result of abstract concept

  -> E.g. Opa Fonkel's inventions

  • None substance interpretations of countable nouns => uncountable when referring to substance rather tan a concrete entity

  -> E.g. We have enough table for
• • Animals in collective sense => Some animal names have a zero plural in collective sense

  -> E.g. Fish, carp, ...

  • Proper nouns (surnames) are used in plural to refer to families, sometimes also first names

  -> E.g. The Joneses, three Judy's, ...

  • Numbers when preceded by numeral do not take plural

  -> E.g. 316 million, 2 dozen, ...

  • Numbers not preceded bu numeral do take plural

  -> E.g. Thousands of, hunderds, ...
• • Distributive plural -> E.g. The reigns of Elizabeth and James vs. the reign of William and Mary
  • Partitives => Used ot refer to quantity with uncountable nouns. There are general partitives -> E.g. A piece, a bit, ... There are also typical partitives -> E.g. Two pairs of, a slice of, ...