countable
part of speech
adjective (countable); noun (countables — rare)
meaning for a pupil
1) (grammar) A countable noun is a noun that can have a number in front of it and a plural form, like «one apple, two apples»; also called a «count noun». tree →
2) (maths, general) Able to be counted: «a countable number of sweets». tree →
3) (maths, advanced) A countable set is one whose members can be listed one by one (1st, 2nd, 3rd…), even if the list never ends, like the whole numbers. tree →
sense in the lessons
In grammar lessons pupils sort nouns into countable (chair, dog, idea) and uncountable (water, rice, information) and learn the rules: «a/an» and «many», «fewer» go with countable nouns; «much», «less» go with uncountable ones. In maths, counting objects is the first step to number; older pupils and olympiad puzzles meet the idea that some infinite sets are countable and some are not. Phrases: «countable noun», «countable and uncountable».
examples
- «Apple» is a countable noun, but «water» is not. tree →
- We say «many books» because «book» is countable. tree →
- Some nouns are both countable and uncountable, like «cake» and «a cake». tree →
- «Information» is uncountable, so you cannot say «two informations». tree →
- The marbles in the jar are countable, but it would take a long time. tree →
- Mathematicians say the whole numbers are a countable set. tree →
- Use «fewer» with countable nouns: fewer sweets, fewer children. tree →
note
Opposite: uncountable (also «mass noun»). Trap: some words are countable in one language and uncountable in another (furniture, advice, homework and information are uncountable in English). Words like «hair», «paper», «coffee» and «chicken» can be both, with different meanings (a paper = a newspaper or essay). In maths, «countable» does not mean small: the whole numbers go on forever but are still countable.
In the corpora
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «countable» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.