WrongThe teacher gave us many informations.
RightThe teacher gave us a lot of information.
«information» never takes «-s»; «a lot of information» is the correct form.
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Grammar
Countable and uncountable nouns
«Informations», «advices», «much people» — these are noticed instantly.
Why this moves your band
These nouns appear in almost every essay, so one wrong habit repeats through the whole text and hits Lexical Resource and Grammar at the same time.
The rule
- 1Uncountable nouns have no plural: information, advice, research, equipment, knowledge, furniture, traffic.
- 2much + uncountable, many + countable; «a number of» + plural, «the amount of» + uncountable.
- 3To count an uncountable you need a unit: a piece of advice, an item of equipment.
Wrong and right
WrongThere are less cars in the centre now.
RightThere are fewer cars in the centre now.
«fewer» goes with countables, «less» with uncountables.
WrongA large amount of students applied this year.
RightA large number of students applied this year.
«number» goes with countables, «amount» with uncountables.
Check after writing
- Any stray «-s» on abstract nouns?
- Are fewer/number with countables and less/amount with uncountables?
- Are «much» and «many» the right way round?
Practice
Pick one answer for each question — the right answer and the rule appear straight away. Nothing is saved.
1.Could you give me some about the course?
2.There were too people at the concert.
3.The of traffic in the centre has fallen.
4.My teacher gave me a useful piece of .
5.A large of students chose to study online.
6.The laboratory bought a lot of new last year.
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