How native speakers learn nouns [C or U]?

[Khamala]

I'm not good at writing English, so I'll try my best.

Why teachers/textbooks never teach this kind of noun? They always talk about easy nouns like:
+ countable nouns: dog, house
+ uncountable nouns: money, happiness
+ nouns that have 2 separate forms: experience, glass, coffee

How about nouns [C or U]?
How can I understand these weird nouns?
Ex: ability, character, advantage, appearance, advance, attack, analysis, age...

Dictionaries only give a definition, and then they have many examples. When I read these sentences I don't know which nouns are countable/uncountable. Some words are easy to recognize with a/an/one/many, but some words are quite hard to guess (the/my/preposition + noun).

I've asked so many teachers in my country but they said nothing or talked about nouns with 2 separate forms (oh no, I understand these nouns).

Please help me! I can't write/speak easily because nouns became an obsession.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm not sure I can work out your question. You say that you understand countable nouns, you understand uncountable nouns and you understand words that can be both countable and uncountable. As far as the latter goes, you gave the examples "experience", "glass" and "coffee". How do you think those differ from the "weird" nouns you listed? Why do you think they're weird?

Are you simply having trouble working out whether the dictionary's example sentences are exemplifying the countable or the uncountable variety? If so, I'm not sure we can help you. We'd need to know which dictionaries you're talking about and, if you want to know why they don't mark the examples up as countable or uncountable, you'd have to ask the people who wrote the dictionary!

If you're trying to work out how to spot whether a noun is countable or uncountable in general text/speech, the answer is very simple - practise!!

 

[jutfrank]

+ nouns that have 2 separate forms: experience, glass, coffee

They don't have two separate forms. Look:

a) Windows are made of glass.
b) Could you pass me my glass, please?

Both words have the same form (in this case they're both singular). The difference is the meaning. If you can understand what the speaker means with the sentences she uses, then you'll know whether the word has a countable or uncountable meaning.

Obviously, you can easily tell whether a noun is being used countably if you can see that it is in plural form, but if you want to know whether a singular noun is being used countably or uncountably, and if there is no indefinite article to make it clear, then you need to understand its meaning.

 

[Tarheel]

A good rule of thumb is if you can have more than one of something it's countable.

 

[Khamala]

They don't have two separate forms. Look:

a) Windows are made of glass.
b) Could you pass me my glass, please?

Both words have the same form (in this case they're both singular). The difference is the meaning. If you can understand what the speaker means with the sentences she uses, then you'll know whether the word has a countable or uncountable meaning.

Obviously, you can easily tell whether a noun is being used countably if you can see that it is in plural form, but if you want to know whether a singular noun is being used countably or uncountably, and if there is no indefinite article to make it clear, then you need to understand its meaning.

But why dictionaries write 2 definitions for experience, glass, coffee? It's easy to understand nouns like that. They can do the same for character, advantage, appearance, advance, attack, analysis, age... why not?

character [C or U] the particular combination of qualities in a person or place that makes them different from others
Politeness is traditionally part of the British character.
It would be very out of character (= not typical) of her to lie.
One of the joys of being a parent is watching the child's character develop.
The idea was to modernize various aspects of the house without changing its essential character.
It's not in his character to be (= he is not usually) jealous.

attack [C or U] a violent act intended to hurt or damage someone or something
a racist attack
Enemy forces have made an attack on the city.
These bomb blasts suggest that the terrorists are (going) on the attack (= trying to defeat or hurt other people) again.
The town was once again under attack (= being attacked).

appearance [C or U] the way a person or thing looks to other people
a middle-aged man of smart appearance
You can alter/change the whole appearance of a room just by lighting it in a certain way.
There was nothing unusual about/in her physical appearance.
The large car outside the house gave the appearance of wealth (= suggested wealthy people lived there).
Appearances can be deceptive.

 

[Tarheel]

Question: How do native speakers learn which nouns are countable and which are uncountable?
Answer: One at a time.

Question: Why do dictionaries have two definitions for some words?
Answer: Those words are used in more than one way. For example, a glass can be something you drink out of. But glass can be something you use to make a window.

 

[jutfrank]

But why dictionaries write 2 definitions for experience, glass, coffee?

If they do, it's when the meanings differ significantly enough to warrant a separate entry. Your example of glass is a good one.

They can do the same for character, advantage, appearance, advance, attack, analysis, age... why not?

If they don't, it's because the meanings don't differ enough to make it worth writing a separate entry. This is especially true for abstract nouns like the ones you've mentioned. Think about your first example, advantage, for instance. How would you write two separate entries for the two different kinds of countability?