handouts vs the handout?

[maoyueh]

When the handout refers to the printed sheets given out to the students, is the word a countable noun? Which of the following is correct? Thank you.

1. Each student has five handouts.
2. Each student has five pieces/sheets of handout. :roll:

 

[emsr2d2]

When the handout refers to the printed sheets given out to the students, is the word a countable noun? Which of the following is correct? Thank you.

1. Each student has five handouts.
2. Each student has five pieces/sheets of handout. :roll:

Each handout is an item in its own right, whether it consists of one page or twenty pages, so it's countable.

Let's say handout 1 refers to biology and has 2 pages, handout 2 refers to chemistry and has 7 pages and handout 3 refers to physics and has 94 pages. Each student then receives the biology handout, the chemistry handout and the physics handout.

Each student will be holding 103 individual pieces of paper, but they will have "three handouts".