1

Unit a cake / some cake / some cakes
68 a (countable/ uncountable 2)
a/ an and some
a/ an + sin g u la r co u n ta b le n ou n s (car/ apple/ shoe et c):
O I need a new car.
O W o uld you like an apple?
some + p lu ra l co u n ta b le n ou n s (cars/ apples/ shoes et c):
O I need some new shoes.
O W o uld you like some apples?
some + u n co u n t a b le n ou n s (water/ m oney/ m usic et c):
O I need some water.
O W o u ld you like some cheese?
(o r W o u ld you like a piece of cheese?)
an apple
some apples
some cheese o r
a piece of cheese
Co m p are a and some:
O N icola bought a hat, some shoes and some perfume.
O I read a newspaper, m ade some phone calls, and listened to some music.
M any nouns are som etim es countab le and so m etim es unco untable. For exam ple:
a cake
0
some cake o r a piece of cake
a chicken
some chickens
some chicken o r a piece of chicken
Co m p are a paper (= a newspaper) and some paper:
I w ant som ething to read. I'm going to buy a paper.
b u t I w ant to make a shopping list. I need some paper / a piece of paper, (n o t a paper)
Be careful with:
advice bread furniture hair inform ation news weather work
These nouns are usually uncountable. So you can't say a/ an ...
plural ( ad vices, furnitures etc.).
O Can I talk to you? I need some advice, (n o t an ad vice)
I'm going to buy some bread, (n o t a bread)
O They've got some nice furniture in their house, (n o t furnitures)
O Silvia has very long hair, (n o t hairs)
W here can I get some inform ation ab o ut hotels here? (n o t inform ations)
Listen! I've just had some good news, (n o t a good news)
It's nice weather today, (n o t a nice w eather)
'Do you like yo ur job?'
W e say a job (b u t n o t a w o rk):
) I've got a new job. (n o t a new w o rk)
'Yes, but it's hard work.' (n o t a hard w o rk)
i, and they can't be
( countable/ uncountable 1 4 Unit 67 some and any Unit 76