Many nouns that are countable in Polish are uncountable in English. Take the word news. It is countable and generally used in the plural in Polish (wiadomość, -ci) but it cannot be counted in English, hence news is used, while a piece of news or a news item replace the general word when we wish to emphasise its countability. There are, however, exceptions to these rules, e.g. hair is generally uncountable, however single hairs are countable.
Ex. Correct the following sentences. Some of the sentences are correct.
1. No news are good news.
2. We bought some furnitures at the IKEA last Saturday. We bought a few furnitures.
3. The colonisers encountered aboriginal peoples on the island.
4. I had no time to wash my hairs in the morning.
5. Jane found two hairs in her soup.
6. Have you got any informations for me?
7. Money do not bring happiness.
8. The contract specified how the moneys were to be paid.
9. The police is searching for the dangerous criminal.
10. The team were founded in 1957.
11. The team were tired but happy after the game.
12. Are one of the doors open?
13. Heavy metal is still very popular in Finland. When I went there, I could see longhairs everywhere.
14. Have you seen my scissor? I must have lost them.
15. The soldiers were told to stay in an old barracks for a month.
KEY
1. is => are, 2. some furniture; a few pieces of furniture, 3. OK, 4. hair, 5. OK, 6. information,
7. do => does, 8. OK (also: monies), 9. is => are (the police = police officers, not the institution), 10. was, 11. OK (here we refer to the players, not to the team as a whole), 12. Is (the Polish word drzwi is always plural, the English word door is not), 13. OK, 14. scissors, 15. OK (despite the -s suffix the word is singular here)
