Referring to an amount of uncountable nouns

ball, bit, block, chunk, crumb, dab, dollop, flake, fragment, heap, lump, mass, mound,

mountain, patch, particle, piece, pile, pinch, ring, roll, scrap, sheet, shred, slab, slice, sliver,

speck, splinter, stick strip, trace, wedge.

In a big mixing bowl mix chunks of beef with strips of bacon, a heap of bread crumbs, a few dollops of mayonnaise and a few pinches of salt and pepper to taste.

Could you put a few blocks of ice into this bowl?

For liquids, we usually use dash, drop, jet, pool, puddle, splash, spot and trickle.

To their surprise, the visitors were greeted with a big splash of water; it was the Songkran festival.

Unfortunately, the couple got out of the car and stepped into a puddle of water.

At a party, sometimes we easily over eat by taking one or two helpings of food too much.

(We can also use "portions" or "servings" in this situation.)

There are also some words that are typically used to refer to a piece or amount of some

thing of a particular kind. For example:

a loaf/slice of bread

a piece/slice of cake

a bar/piece of chocolate

a length/piece of cloth

a lump of coal

an ear/sheaf of corn

a speck/particle/cloud of dust

a wisp/bank/patch of fog or smoke

a blob of glue/wax

a blade of grass

a lock/strand of hair

a piece/area of land

a dose of medicine

a sum of money

a sheet/piece/scrap of paper

a grain of rice/wheat/sand/

a flake/blanket of snow

a measure/slug/tot of spirits

a slab/block of stone

a grain/lump of sugar

a bead/drop/trickle of sweat

a reel of tape

a reel/strand of thread

a strand/piece/length of wire

a ball of wool

By Dr English

drenglish_7@hotmail.com