Title: COUNTABLE or UNCOUNTABLE

THE BASIC RULES

A countable noun is one that can be counted: 1 elephant, 2 elephants, 3 elephants, ...

An uncountable noun is usually a noun that can't be counted. For example: water, air, money, food, ...

You can't say "he had a lot of moneys"; but you can say "he had a lot of 500€ notes": you can count both Euros and 500€ notes!

Quantifiers are adjectives that give us information about how much or many you are talking about. Some quantifiers can only be used before countable nouns, others before uncountable nouns. And some can be used with either.

How many apples would you like?

How much water do you drink a day?

SOME / ANY

Both some and any can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.

Be careful, I dropped some water on the floor. (water - uncountable)

I left some books on the shelf. (books - countable)

Do you have any spinach? (spinach - uncountable)

Do you have any bananas? (bananas - countable)

MUCH / MANY

Much is used to modify uncountable nouns.

My horse drinks so much water!

How much time do do we have?

Many is used to modify countable nouns.

Many English tourists travel to France.

I read many scientific papers before writing my book.

LITTLE / FEW

Little is used to modify uncountable nouns.

He had little food in the fridge.

After paying the bills, we have liitle money to spare.

Few is used to modify countable nouns.

A few people came to the party.

Few people understand how antioxidants work.

A LOT OF / LOTS OF

A lot of and lots of can be used to modify both countable and uncountable nouns.

A lot of water is wasted.

Lots of water is wasted.

A lot of people are becoming vegetarians.

Lots of people are becoming vegetarians.