Question

Select the correct countable and uncountable noun.
The child was licking _________.
A. ice cream
B. an ice cream
C. a ice cream
D. many ice cream

Answer 1

Hint: A noun is a term that acts as a name or collection of things, such as living beings, locations, behaviour, attributes, state of life or ideas. However, the noun is not a category semantic, therefore its significance cannot be described. Through verbs, traits through adjectives and places via adverbs, activities and states of being may also be represented.

Complete answer:
There are different kinds of nouns: Proper noun, Common noun, Abstract noun, Concrete noun, Countable noun, Collective noun and Compound noun.

We need to discuss detailed information about Countable and Uncountable nouns.

1. Countable nouns can be counted, e.g. an apple, two apples, three apples, etc.
For positives, we can use ”a/an” as articles for singular nouns or “some” for plurals.
For negatives, we can use “a/an” as articles for singular nouns or “any” for plural.

2. Uncountable nouns cannot be counted, e.g. air, rice, water, etc.
We use “some”, “few”, “a few” etc with uncountable nouns in positive sentences and “any” with negatives.


Now let us analyse the given options:
“The child was licking _________.”

Option A) ice cream - There is a requirement for an article before a noun to make the sentence grammatically correct. Therefore, this option is incorrect.

Option B) an ice cream - The article used here is an indefinite article that states a non-specific noun and “an” is used before vowel sounds. Therefore, this option is correct.

Option C) a ice cream - The article used here is an indefinite article that states a non-specific noun but “a” is used before consonant sounds not vowel sounds. Therefore, this option is incorrect.

Option D) many ice cream - The word “many” is used for plural countable nouns but here the ice cream is a singular noun. Therefore, this option is incorrect.

Therefore the correct answer is option ‘B’.

Note:
- To make a countable noun plural, we add -s/-es to its singular form.
- Uncountable nouns can never be plural, they are always singular. The indefinite article is never used with uncountable nouns.