Grammar
Information, advice, research and equipment are all uncountable, and all commonly used wrongly. With a practice exercise.
Countable and uncountable nouns in IELTS produce a particular kind of error. The word is correct, the meaning is clear, and the grammar around it is wrong. Informations, advices, researches and equipments all appear regularly in candidate writing.
The difficulty is that countability is not logical. Furniture is uncountable and chairs are countable, though a room contains a specific number of both. It has to be learned word by word.
The distinction
Six rules, and the fourth catches almost everyone.
Can be counted and take a plural: a policy, two policies. They take a or an in the singular, and many or a few in the plural.
Have no plural form and take no a or an: information, advice, research, equipment, furniture, knowledge, progress, traffic, pollution.
Many with countable plurals: many students. Much with uncountables: much information. Using many information is a clear error.
Information, advice, research, equipment, furniture, luggage, homework, news, progress, evidence. None of these takes a plural, however natural it feels.
Use a unit: a piece of advice, an item of equipment, a piece of research, a piece of furniture.
Experience is uncountable when it means general knowledge and countable when it means an event: work experience, but a memorable experience.
Method
Six pairs to keep straight.
Many with countables, much with uncountables. In positive statements, a lot of works with both and is often safer in speaking.
Few students with countables. Little progress with uncountables. Note that few means not many, while a few means some.
Fewer cars, less traffic. This one is noticed, and less cars is a common error in IELTS essays.
The number of students, the amount of information. Wrong pairings here are noticeable in Task 1 writing especially.
Each student has, not each students have. The noun and the verb both stay singular.
Formally plural, but now widely used as uncountable. Either is accepted in IELTS. Just do not switch within one essay.
Practice
Choose the correct version.
For each sentence, decide whether the noun is countable or uncountable.
If it is uncountable, it takes no plural, no a or an, and much rather than many.
1Which is correct?
Much information. Information is uncountable, so it has no plural form and takes much rather than many.
2Which is correct?
Some good advice. If you need to count it, use a unit: two pieces of advice.
3Which is correct?
Fewer cars. Cars are countable, so fewer. You would say less traffic, because traffic is uncountable.
4Which is correct?
The number of students. Number with countables, amount with uncountables. This pairing matters in Task 1 writing especially.
5Which is correct?
Each student has. Each takes a singular noun and a singular verb, even though it refers to several people.
6Which noun can be both countable and uncountable?
Experience. Uncountable when it means general knowledge, as in work experience. Countable when it means an event, as in a memorable experience.
It is one of the most common errors in IELTS writing, and it happens because these words are countable in many other languages.
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No. Information is uncountable, so there is no plural. If you need to count it, use a unit: two pieces of information.
Many with countable plurals and much with uncountable nouns. In positive statements a lot of works with both.
Fewer with countable nouns and less with uncountable ones. Fewer cars, less traffic. Less cars is a common and noticeable error.
Formally plural, but now widely used as uncountable. Both are accepted in IELTS, so choose one and stay consistent.
Countability in English is not logical and has to be learned word by word. Furniture, equipment and luggage all behave this way.
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