Question

Place the countable and uncountable nouns in their appropriate row:
a. English is my favourite subject.
b. Salt and pepper add taste to salad.
c. Put the bouquet of roses in the vase.
d. My shoes are made of leather.
e. You will find various animals and birds in the zoo.
f. The fleet surrounded the pirates’ ship.

Answer 1

Hint:
 Countable nouns are the nouns that can be counted (eg. marbles, chocolates, slices of bread) while uncountable nouns are the nouns that cannot be counted (eg. oil, paint, stars). If you can quantify the noun, that is, it can be described in numbers, it is countable.

Complete answer:
(a) English is my favourite subject.- The word subject is a countable noun since we can count the number of subjects. You can count how many subjects you study in school.
(b) Salt and pepper add taste to the salad.- The words “salt and pepper” and “salad”, both are uncountable nouns since we can neither count salt and pepper nor salad. Salt and pepper are very tiny and granulated which make it impossible to count them. Salad is a combination of certain fruits and vegetables.
(c) Put the bouquet of roses in the vase.- A bouquet of roses is a countable noun since you can count bouquets. A rose is also a countable noun because you can quantify roses- give me 3 of your best roses. A vase is also a countable noun. Vases are big objects and you can easily count them.
(d) My shoes are made of leather.- While the word “shoes” is a countable noun since you can easily count how many shoes you have, “leather” is uncountable. We cannot say we need leather or two kinds of leather. We can only give the measurement of leather such as 2 meters of leather but that does not mean it is countable.
(e) You will find various animals and birds in the zoo.- Animals, birds, and zoo are all countable nouns since we can say “I have two animals”, “I have three birds”, “There are two zoos in my city”. They can be quantified.
(f) The fleet surrounded the pirates’ ship.- “Fleet” is countable- there are three fleets of ships at the harbour. “Pirate” is also countable- They were attacked by five pirates. “Ship” is a countable noun as well- I saw two beautiful ships sailing smoothly.
Countable nouns: subject, bouquet, rose, vase, shoes, animals, birds, zoo, fleet, pirate, ship
Uncountable nouns: salt, pepper, salad, leather

Note:
 Be careful with what the subject is. For example, if the subject is “bread”, it is uncountable. But if it is “slices of bread”, it is countable.