There is no one list. Every noun in the English language has its own usage and history. Only a dictionary will tell you if this noun has meanings that would indicate this word used in this meaning is a count noun, and this word used with a different meaning would be a non-count noun. Reading good writing will help you to learn these usages, and also using a dictionary will help.

In the examples you give above, these nouns are concept nouns. We understand that concept nouns are not composed of discrete units and therefore cannot be counted (one, two, etc.). That does not, however, mean that they do not have a plural form. A dictionary can unlock the key to this. Whether you use singular or plural depends on the context.

The word “imagination” for example, is indicated as being both countable and uncountable, depending on the use. On that link, one example uses the quantifier “much” which is correct for a noncountable noun. At the same time, you will also see a plural form “imaginations” when referring to the imaginations of children: Each child has his/her own imagination, so the concept noun “imagination” can be used in the plural form when referring to the imaginations of children.

I think you can do the same thing with the two other concept nouns you provided. So you can see that each word is unique and though that’s the challenge of English, that’s also the beauty of mastering it.

If you see a specific example you’d like to ask about that uses the noun in a sentence, please share that with us and we can discuss that.

Thank you for your question – and hang in there!

Jane

So first, let’s clarify your question: Are you asking me to help you learn how to type? Or are you asking me to help you learn how to use the computer keyboard?

Jane
The ESL Help! Desk

Oh, terms like “auxiliary” and “determiner” can drive anybody crazy. They only began to make sense to me when I was studying linguistics, in particular what we call “transformational grammar”. We would take sentences and chart them out to understand the structure of English, and the structure of that particular sentence.

If you understand the logic behind terms like “auxiliary” and “determiner” then you don’t have to memorize anything because you understand the logic of the language. For example, words like “a” and “the” always precede nouns. So if you see a word like “a” and “the”, you know that a noun will follow. This is what we mean by “noun determiner”. The words “a” and “the” determine the presence of a noun.

“Participles” are not tenses. They are verb forms. Please go to my introductory lessons on VERBS to help clarify the difference between a verb FORM (present participle, past participle, etc.) and a verb tense (present progressive, present perfect, etc.)

Yours,

Jane
The ESL Help! Desk

Thanks for the reply. As for your questions, I live in Malaysia at the moment, and well… I think I had only speak English for a few years, even though I was taught in the school for around 10 years, still what I had learnt are confusing theories though. Like the term ‘auxiliary’, ‘determiner’, etc, it is hard for me to memorize them though.

Thanks for the compliment too, as I am still quite poor in terms of using the tenses, especially advanced tenses like perfect or participles.

Your English is quite good. Where do you live? Do you live in the U.K.? How long have you spoken English?

Back to your question, which is quite good: In both cases, the more common is to place “also” after the first auxiliary. In the first case, the first auxiliary is the modal “can”. In the second case, the first auxiliary is the be verb, “is” – in this case, “am”.

Sorry for taking so long to respond.

I am currently studying and I need some help on this.

1. Is there any difference between ‘also can’ and ‘can also’? Which one is correct? It was said that we can only use ‘can also’ but in certain books, they wrote ‘also can’. While some mentioned that ‘also can is more informal while can also is more formal’.
2. Still the same thing similar to the previous one, with verb to be, is ‘is also’ or ‘also is’ correct? For example: I am seventeen. I am also studying Form 5. or I am seventeen. I also am studying Form 5.

Thanks!