Countable и uncountable (Исчисляемые и неисчисляемые: продолжение)

Многие существительные могут быть как исчисляемыми (countable), так и не исчисляемыми (uncountable) существительными, обычно с разницей в значении. Сравните:

Coffee/tea/juice/beer и др. (напитки) обычно неисчисляемы:

• I don’t like coffee very much.

Но вы можете сказать a coffee (= a cup of coffee = чашка кофе), two coffees (= две чашки) и т.п. :

• Two coffees and an orange juice, please.

Следующие существительные обычно неисчисляемые:

Вы не можете использовать a/an с этими существительными:

• I’m going to buy some bread. or ... a loaf of bread. (not a bread)
  Я собираюсь купить (немного) хлеба. или ... булку хлеба.
• Enjoy your holiday! I hope you have good weather. (not a good weather)
  Желаю хорошо отдохнуть! Надеюсь, тебе повезет с погодой.

Эти существительные обычно не во множественном числе (т.е. мы не говорим ‘breads’, ‘furnitures’ и т.п.):

• Where are you going to put all your furniture? (not furnitures)
  Куда ты собираешься поставить всю свою мебель?
• Let me know if you need more information. (not informations)
  Скажи мне, если тебе понадобится больше информации.

News – неисчисляемое существительное, а не во множественном числе:

• The news was very depressing. (not The news were)
  Новости были очень печальными. или Новость была очень печальной. (зависит от контекста)

Travel (существительное) означает ‘путешествие (в целом)’ (неисчисляемое). Мы не говорим ‘a travel’, имея в виду a trip или a journey (путешествие – синонимы):

• They spend a lot of money on travel.
  Они тратят много денег на путешествия.
• We had a very good trip/journey. (not a good travel)
  У нас была очень хорошая поездка.

Сравните эти исчисляемые и неисчисляемые существительные:

Упражнения

1. Отметьте галочкой правильный вариант, как показано в примере.

1. ‘Did you hear noise / a noise just now?’ ‘No, I didn’t hear anything.’ (a noise – правильный вариант).
2. a. If you want to know the news, you can read paper / a paper.
   b. I want to print some documents, but the printer is out of paper / papers.
3. a. I thought there was somebody in the house because there was light / a light on inside.
   b. Light / A light comes from the sun.
4. a. I was in a hurry this morning. I didn’t have time / a time for breakfast.
   b. ‘Did you enjoy your holiday?’ ‘Yes, we had wonderful time / a wonderful time.’
5. This is nice room / a nice room. Did you decorate it yourself?
6. Sue was very helpful. She gave us some very useful advice / advices.
7. Did you have nice weather / a nice weather when you were away?

8. We were very unfortunate. Wie had bad luck / a bad luck.
9. Is it difficult to find a work / job at the moment?
10. Our travel / journey from Paris to Moscow by train was very tiring.
11. When the fire alarm rang, there was total chaos / a total chaos.
12. I had to buy a / some bread because I wanted to make some sandwiches.
13. Bad news don’t / doesn’t make people happy.
14. Your hair is / Your hairs are too long. You should have it / them cut.
15. The damage / the damages caused by the storm will cost a lot to repair.

2. Закончите предложения, используя следующие слова и множественное число (-s) там, где необходимо.

1. I didn’t have much – just two small bags.
2. They’ll tell you all you want to know. They’ll give you plenty of .
3. There is room for everybody to sit down. There are plenty of .
4. We have no , not even a bed or a table.
5. ‘What does Alan look like?’ ‘He’s got a long beard and very short .’
6. Carla’s English is better than it was. She’s made .

7. Mike is unemployed. He can’t get a .
8. Mike is unemployed. He can’t get .
9. If you want to leave early, you have to ask for .
10. I didn’t know what to do. So I asked Chris for .
11. I don’t think Dan will get the job. He doesn’t have enough .
12. Paul has done many interesting things. He could write a book about his .

3. Что бы вы сказали в этих ситуациях? Закончите каждое предложение, используя одно из слов раздела B.

1. Your friends have just arrived at the station. You can’t see any cases or bags. You ask them:
   Have

   ?
2. You go into the tourist office. You want to know about places to see in the town. You say:
   I’d like

   .
3. You are a student. You want your teacher to advise you about which courses to do. You say:
   Can you give me

   ?
4. You want to watch the news on TV, but you don’t know when it is on. You ask your friend:
   What time

   ?
5. You are at the top of a mountain. You can see a very long way. It’s beautiful. You say:
   It

   , isn’t it?
6. You look out of the window. The weather is horrible: cold, wet and windy. You say:
   What

   !