I TOLD HENDERSON THAT I ______ HAVE THE REPORT READY BY NOON, BUT...

14. I told Henderson that I ______ have the report ready by noon, but things didn’t go as I’d planned.

a. would

b. could

c. might

d. should

Nouns

One of the trickiest things about nouns is remembering whether they are count or non-count nouns. Count

nouns refer to distinct, separate individuals or entities, such as a toy, an apple, a phenomenon. Non-count

nouns refer to things grouped in a mass rather than separated as individuals, such as grass, milk, blood, bread.

When we refer to numbers of non-count nouns, we have to do it indirectly, as follows:

one blade of grass

three pints of blood

ten loaves of bread

On the other hand, we can enumerate count nouns directly:

one toy

three apples

ten phenomena

Non-count nouns have other special qualities: