Examples
Below are examples of all the properties of count nouns holding for the count noun chair but not for the mass noun furniture.
- Occurrence in plural/singular.
- There is a chair in the room.
- There are chairs in the room.
- There is a furniture in the room. (incorrect)
- There are furnitures in the room. (incorrect)
- Co-occurrence with count determiners
- Every chair is man made.
- There are several chairs in the room.
- Every furniture is man made. (incorrect)
- There are several furnitures in the room. (incorrect)
Some determiners can be used with both mass and count nouns, including "some", "a lot (of)", "no". Others cannot: "few" and "many" are used with count items, "little" and "much" with mass. (On the other hand "fewer" is reserved for count and "less" for mass (see Fewer vs. less), but "more" is the proper comparative for both "many" and "much".)
Read more about this topic: Count Noun
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