Welcome to 15mins.today the home of English Shadowing. I'm your host Gavin and this is In-Tense Episode 25.
So now guys, in Episode 23 we looked at “a lot of” and Episode 24 we looked at “many” countable nouns. So of course today we're going to look at uncountable nouns and “much.” Now the one thing we use “much” for a lot and that is the question, “How much is it?” ,what is the cost? “How much do I have to pay?” So when it comes to that, there's no way we can change that to “a lot of” because that is the standard question, “How much is it?”
Now it is very tricky to do uncountable nouns because you have to learn them, that's all. That's the only way to know which nouns are uncountable, you have to study them. The only shortcut I can offer would be that there is sort of a cheating rule that says if you can say “one chair, two chairs” that is countable.
If you say “one water, two water” you cannot, so that's uncountable. So for uncountable nouns you have basically groups that you could say that are usually uncountable like, liquids> milk and water, abstract ideas> advice chaos motivation, powder and grains> rice, wheat, sand, mass nouns> furniture hair transportation, natural phenomena> sunshine snow rain weather. “The weather is nice today.” States of being> sleep stress childhood, feelings> anger happiness enthusiasm courage and then gas> oxygen air.
Now that is sort of a rough idea which things can be used for uncountable nouns. If you really want to know, I suggest you go onto Google and search> “list of uncountable nouns PDF” and they will give you a list, I saw one list with 450 nouns for uncountable nouns. So that said, let's get started with our questions, number one.
Drill Sentences:
Did Jane drink much milk? Yes, she drank much milk.
Did Jane drink much milk? No, she did not drink much milk.
Did you spend much money? Yes, I spent much money.
Did you spend much money? No, I did not spend much money.
Do you have much love for cats? Yes, I have much love for cats.
Do you have much love for cats? No, I do not have much love for cats.
Does Peter eat much rice? Yes, he eats much rice.
Does Peter eat much rice? No, he does not eat much rice.
Do you get much sleep? Yes, I get much sleep.
Do you get much sleep? No, I do not get much sleep.
Do John and Jane show much anger? Yes, they show much anger.
Do John and Jane show much anger? No, they do not show much anger.
Do you enjoy much sunshine? Yes, I enjoy much sunshine.
Do you enjoy much sunshine? No, I do not enjoy much sunshine.
Did Peter give much advice? Yes, he gave much advice.
Did Peter give much advice? No, he did not give much advice.
Does Anna have much furniture? Yes, she has much furniture.
Does Anna have much furniture? No, she does not have much furniture.
Does your country get much rain? Yes, my country gets much rain.
Does your country get much rain? No, my country does not get much rain.
Well, guys that that is it, keep practicing. It is a very awkward thing for me, even I feel myself wanting to say “a lot of” because it's just simpler, it makes life a bit easier and some of these questions seem a bit strange to ask somebody. Maybe I wouldn't phrase them in that exact order but it is for practice purposes only. So keep repeating and good luck and catch you next time, bye!