Learn how to use count nouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natalie: Good afternoon! |
| Braden: Braden here. English Nouns, Part 1: Count Nouns. |
| Natalie: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use count nouns. |
| Braden: This conversation takes place in the cockpit just before takeoff. |
| Natalie: And it’s between Michael and Amanda. |
| Braden: Michael and Amanda have piloted many flights together by now and are now friends. They are speaking casually. |
| Natalie: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Michael: Hey Amanda? |
| Amanda: Yes? |
| Michael: I need you to take care of the pre-flight checklist and get everything ready for take off. I need to make a quick phone call before we leave for Philadelphia. |
| Amanda: Will you take long? |
| Michael: I'm not sure. It depends on if my friend in Philadelphia answers the phone or not. |
| Amanda: No problem. I'll start the checklist and wait for you to come back. |
| Braden: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Michael: Hey Amanda? |
| Amanda: Yes? |
| Michael: I need you to take care of the pre-flight checklist and get everything ready for take off. I need to make a quick phone call before we leave for Philadelphia. |
| Amanda: Will you take long? |
| Michael: I'm not sure. It depends on if my friend in Philadelphia answers the phone or not. |
| Amanda: No problem. I'll start the checklist and wait for you to come back. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Braden: So, we wanted to talk a little bit about Philadelphia. |
| Natalie: That's right. Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania with a population of 1.5 million. The greater Philadelphia Metropolitan region has a population of over 4 million people. |
| Braden: During the American Revolution, many important events took place in Philadelphia including the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and the writing and signing of the US Constitution. |
| Natalie: Today, Philadelphia is an information and service-based economy. Financial activities are the largest part of the economy. Higher education contributes significantly to the region's economy as well. |
| Braden: The region is also home to 13 Fortune 500 companies and has a gross domestic product of $347 billion annually and is ranked 7th in the United States. |
| Natalie: The University of Pennsylvania is one of the city's three major research universities and home to the Wharton School of Finance which for several years was rated the best finance college in the world. |
| Braden: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Braden: The first word we're going to look at is... |
| Natalie: pre-flight [natural native speed] |
| Braden: occurring before a fly in an aircraft |
| Natalie: pre-flight [slowly - broken down by syllable] pre-flight [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: checklist [natural native speed] |
| Braden: a list of things to be done, used as a reminder |
| Natalie: checklist [slowly - broken down by syllable] checklist [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: quick [natural native speed] |
| Braden: moving fast or doing something in a short time |
| Natalie: quick [slowly - broken down by syllable] quick [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: before [natural native speed] |
| Braden: during the period of time preceding a particular event, date, or time |
| Natalie: before [slowly - broken down by syllable] before [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: depends [natural native speed] |
| Braden: be controlled or determined by |
| Natalie: depends [slowly - broken down by syllable] depends [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Next |
| Natalie: answers [natural native speed] |
| Braden: the things said, written, or done in response to a question |
| Natalie: answers [slowly - broken down by syllable] answers [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Braden: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Natalie: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase “take care of.” |
| Braden: This phrase has two typical meanings. In the dialogue, the meaning is “to deal with something.” |
| Natalie: The idea here is that the person is “caring for” or taking the necessary actions so that something that needs to happen does happen. |
| Braden: For example “I don't have the right tools to take care of this.” |
| Natalie: Here, “to take care of” refers to this idea of “dealing with something.” There is some task that he needs to perform but he cannot because he does not have the right tools. |
| Braden: Could you break this down for us? |
| Natalie: (slowly) take care of |
| Braden: And one time fast? |
| Natalie: (fast) take care of |
| Braden: Perfect! What’s next? |
| Natalie: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase “no problem.” |
| Braden: The phrase “no problem” should be familiar to you by now. Americans, and native English speakers around the world, say this phrase frequently. |
| Natalie: The meaning of “no problem” is to express one's agreement on some problem. |
| Braden: For example, “Could you help me please?” Easily be responded to with, “No problem.” |
| Natalie: A quick tip here is that often on text messaging services as well as on Facebook and in chat rooms, the phrase “no problem” is typically abbreviated to “np.” |
| Braden: So, when someone sends you an “np” now you know what they're saying. Could you break this down for us? |
| Natalie: (slowly) no problem |
| Braden: And one time fast? |
| Natalie: (fast) no problem |
| Braden: Excellent! Let’s take a look at the grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Braden: So Natalie, what’s the focus of this lesson? |
| Natalie: The focus of this lesson is count nouns and how to use them. |
| Braden: In the dialogue we heard the phrase |
| Natalie: I’ll start the checklist and wait for you to come back. |
| Braden: In English, there are 2 kinds of nouns – count nouns and non-count nouns. |
| Natalie: Over the next 3 lessons we're going to learn about each of these. |
| Braden: In this lesson, we're going to learn about count nouns. |
| Natalie: Count nouns |
| Count nouns are things that can be counted. That means that there can be more than one of them. For example – |
| Braden: “There are 2 plates on the table." |
| Natalie: Also, when a count noun is singular or indefinite the article “a/an” is often used with it. For example – |
| Braden: “There is a present in my car.” |
| Natalie: So, it’s often difficult to know whether a noun is a count noun or a non-count noun. In general, count nouns are usually objects that can be easily counted such as "pen,” “car,” and “shoe.” |
| Braden: Non-count nouns, on the other hand, tend to be substances such as “air,” "rice,” or “sand.” |
| Natalie: They can also be large, abstract ideas such as “nature,” “space,” or “entertainment.” |
| Braden: Our 2 tips for identifying count nouns are that usually, only count nouns can be plural, and usually only count nouns will be preceded by the word “the.” |
| Natalie: These aren't rules, they are more like tendencies. There are plenty of exceptions. |
| Braden: Let's take a look at four count nouns and an example phrase for each. The 4 words we will look at are “table,” “idea,” “answer,” and “shoe.” |
| Natalie: So, we’ll start with “Table.” For example, "The book is on the table.” |
| Braden: Here, the word “table” is preceded by the article “the.” This tells us that the word “table” is a count noun. |
| Natalie: Our next word is “Idea.” For example, “I have so many ideas!” |
| Braden: In this sentence, the word “ideas” is plural. Because of the “S” at the end we know that it is a count noun. |
| Natalie: Next we’ll look at the word “Answer.” An example phrase would be – “What is the answer to this question?" |
| Braden: Here, the word "answer" is preceded by the article "the." Since only count nouns can be preceded by "the," we know that "answer" is a count noun. |
| Natalie: Last, we’ll look at the word “Shoe.” For example, "The heel on my left shoe broke." |
| Braden: In this sentence, we don't have the article "the" preceding "shoe" nor is "shoe" plural. |
| Natalie: In these cases we sometimes need to think about whether or not the objects can be counted. |
| Braden: In this case, shoe can be counted as we can have "one shoe" or "two shoes." |
| Natalie: Let's review this lesson. |
| Braden: So, in English, there are two types of nouns – count nouns and noncount nouns. |
| Natalie: In this lesson we dealt with count nouns. We'll learn about non-count nouns in the next few lessons. |
| Braden: Count nouns are nouns that can be counted. In other words, they can be plural or singular. |
| Natalie: And our tips to identify count nouns are that only count nouns are preceded by the article "the" and only count nouns can be plural. |
| Braden: That’s right. |
Outro |
| Braden: That just about does it for this lesson. Thanks for listening. |
| Natalie: Have a good day! |
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