Countable and Uncountable Nouns with Adjectives

(See Countable and Uncountable Nouns)

These adjectives can be used with plural countable nouns:

Few

The manager had a few inspiration for the project.

Inspiration is uncountable, so it can’t be used with few. We need to find a countable noun to use with few.

The manager had a few inspired ideas for the project.

Ideas is countable, so we can use that with few. We can change inspiration to an adjective so the meaning is still there.

Many

I have many books.

If a lot of or lots of is used with a countable noun, it means many.

I have lots of books.

These adjectives can be used with uncountable nouns:

Little

She got little sleep last night.

A little bit of

She only got a little bit of sleep last night.

Much

She didn’t get much sleep last night.

If a lot of or lots of is used with an uncountable noun, it means much.

She didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.

She hopes to get lots of sleep tonight.

These adjective can be used with both countable plural nouns and uncountable nouns:

Some

Could we please have some bottles of water?

Could we please have some water?

Bottles is countable, and water is uncountable.

Any

Do we have any bottles of water?

Do we have any water?

Plenty of

We have plenty of water bottles.

We have plenty of water.

Enough

Do we have enough water bottles?

Do we have enough water?

No

I just checked: we have no water bottles.

I just checked: we have no water.