Argh... countable or uncountable...

[Aikuzo]

I think I now know the rules of a/an/the but I'm always at lost everytime I come across words that I don't know if countable or uncountable. Other than asking over the internet everytime it happens... is there some kind of 'mind trick' :D or a site I could use where I could just type in a word and it would tell me right away what type of noun is it....?
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I quit studying English years ago and have just come back to study the basics.

[Milanya]

Countable nouns are easy to recognize. They are things that we can count. For example: "pen". We can count pens. We can have one, two, three or more pens.
Here are some more countable nouns:
dog, cat, animal, man, person
bottle, box, litre
coin, note, dollar
cup, plate, fork
table, chair, suitcase, bag

Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We cannot "count" them. For example, we cannot count "milk". We can count "bottles of milk" or "litres of milk", but we cannot count "milk" itself. Here are some more uncountable nouns:

music, art, love, happiness
advice, information, news
furniture, luggage
rice, sugar, butter, water
electricity, gas, power
money, currency

Nouns that can be Countable and Uncountable
Sometimes, the same noun can be countable and uncountable, often with a change of meaning.

Countable Uncountable
There are two hairs in my coffee! hair I don't have much hair.
There are two lights in our bedroom. light Close the curtain. There's too much light!
Shhhhh! I thought I heard a noise. noise It's difficult to work when there is too much noise.
Have you got a paper to read? (= newspaper) paper I want to draw a picture. Have you got some paper?
Our house has seven rooms. room Is there room for me to sit here?
We had a great time at the party. time Have you got time for a coffee?
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's greatest works. work I have no money. I need work!

Drinks (coffee, water, orange juice) are usually uncountable. But if we are thinking of a cup or a glass, we can say (in a restaurant, for example):
Two teas and one coffee please.
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con·text - The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning.

[Aikuzo]

Ah fellow Texan. xD Thank you so much your very detailed answer Milanya! I'm learning alot here, specially about that countables that could also be uncountables.

- A
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I quit studying English years ago and have just come back to study the basics.

[Aikuzo]

How about this though:

- I've got two news for you, one good and one bad. (news=countable plural)
- I've got news for you. (news=uncountable)

Did I see this correctly here?
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I quit studying English years ago and have just come back to study the basics.

[Fimbriae]

[Anglo Sax]

News is already pleural (things that are new), so to split it up you have to say something like: 'items of news', 'pieces of news' or 'lots of news'.

[Skrej]

[Destinytriest]

My friend found www.english-test.net in Yahoo and send me link. My name is Destiny, I live in Paris. I was born in London, United Kingdom and move to Paris after marriage. I like campari and Lost

[Richard]

Hi.
I couldn't agree more.
thanks Skrej.
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