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Material Noun

A Material noun denote the matter or substance of which the things are made.
Material nouns are generally uncountable and have no plural forms.
When used to mean the material itself, they are uncountable,
but when used in other senses, for example, two coffees in the sense of “two cups of coffee”, they are countable, behaving just like individual nouns.
The house is built of stone.
They throw stones at him.
There are also material nouns that can take plural endings, for example, sands/waters in the sense of “large expanse of sand or water” and foods/fruits in the sense of “a variety of food or fruit”; those nouns, though ending in –s, remain uncountable.
The fish is rarely found in fresh waters.
This ring is made of gold.
This chair is made of wood.
Please give me a glass of water.
In the above sentence ‘gold’, ’wood’, ‘water‘ are Material Noun.

Classify the underlined nouns in the sentences given below to material and
common nouns.
1. Is there any sugar in the tin ?
2. This spoon is made of silver.
3. That tub is made of plastic.
4. There is enough cement in the godown.
5. Chocolates are made of cocoa.
6. This palace is made of stone.
7. This flag is made of paper.
8. The naughty boy threw stones on the dog.
9. Have you read today’s newspaper ?

10. This table is made of wood.
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