How do native speakers decide if it's countable or not?

>>sheep n. , pl. sheep<<

What does this excerpt from your post tell you R.M.?
It tells me:
1. noun - singular: sheep
2. noun - plural: sheep

Regarding "countable" nouns the most confusion here in the UK at least is that concerning the use of "less" or "fewer", so much so that many people tend to think that "less" will do for everything, whether it refers to a countable noun or not.

For purists it can really grate and to them it's some kind of linguistic trauma to hear someone say something like "less people went to see the show last night" but at the same time someone who says that would never say "there was fewer snow in March than there was in February".

You can often hear people in the UK broadcasting media misuse the word "less" in this way, which confirms the belief that many people don't regard it as incorrect, whereas most probably it would have been seen as wrong in the past, certainly on the BBC I would imagine.

There is obviously a certain amount of confusion over 'countable and uncountable' nouns in the English speaking world.




A sheep in wolves clothing

A sheep in wolf's clothing



A sheep in wolves' clothing at The Standard
22 Mar 2009 ... The New Zealand labour movement used to have its own newspaper. A group of us thought that now might be a good time for it to be digitally ...
www.thestandard.org.nz/a-sheep-in-wolves-clothing/ - 60k - Cached - Similar pages


Shaken and Stirred - A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing - NYTimes.com
19 Oct 2008 ... Some restaurateurs who don't have a full liquor license have turned to sake-based cocktails to fill in their menu gaps.
www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/fashion/19shake.html - Similar pages

Sainsburys Supermarket:

Turmoil over sign saying "Ten items or less"


Sainsburys Cartoons
Man unable to find checkout as signs say: 'Eight items or less','Cash only' and 'I'll think of ... Sainsburys cartoon 9 - catalog reference cst0186 ...
www.cartoonstock.com/directory/s/sainsburys.asp - 74k - Cached - Similar pages


"Contributors to Antimoon.com are organising a Supermarket boycott"


Tesco to ditch 'ten items or less' sign after good grammar ...

In Australian supermarkets, the signs invariably say "10 items or less service". ..... Well the Telegraph can't talk as the subbing is not up to much. ..... ask for people's comments regarding the following sign spotted at Sainsbury's: ...
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2659948/Tesco-to-ditch-ten-items-or-less-sign-after-good-grammar-campaign.html - Similar pages



Tesco to ditch 'ten items or less' sign after good grammar campaign

Tesco has bowed to pressure from those lobbying for the use of good English and have altered checkout signs reading "ten items or less" in the interests of being grammatically correct.

Sorry, but in a lot of English dialects it is normal usage to use "less" in such a manner, and the insistence on the use of "fewer" for countable items is just pure prescriptivism and nothing else, as it does not actually reflect normal English usage.

beetroot


If you have prepared beetroot, it is called 'beetroot' regardless of how many beetroots there are.

However, if you are digging up beetroots in a field, the noun 'beetroot' is countable.

"Just when you thought English was easy!"


Love Beetroot :: Love it or hate it, Beetroot is Back!

www.lovebeetroot.co.uk/ - 5k - Cached - Similar pages