Is newspaper countable?

[Enlearnercn]

English Grammar Tests, Elementary Level

ESL/EFL Test #99 "a, some or any", question 3

There's ......... newspaper on the table.

(a) a
(b) some
(c) any

English Grammar Tests, Elementary Level

ESL/EFL Test #99 "a, some or any", answer 3

There's a newspaper on the table.

Correct answer: (a) a

Your answer was: incorrect
There's some newspaper on the table.
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Dear Sir,

Is newspaper countable? Should we a piece of newpaper?

Thanks in advance

Enlearnercn

[Alan]

Hi Enlearnercn,

The word newspaper can be both countable and uncountable. In the test sentence it is countable as would be book/magazine/brochure.

It could be uncountable in a sentence like this:

As we wanted to paint the ceiling, we covered the floor with newspaper. (in this sense it refers to the material and not the individual newspaper)

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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