Most times when I heard people say "there is no single water in the
house", I felt like shutting their mouths with very big padlocks, but my
powers are limited. The phrase "single water" is totally
ungrammatical because "water" is an uncountable noun. Other
examples of uncountable nouns are: rice, sand, information, advice, blood,
wood, paper, milk etc. That is why you can't say "bloods",
"rices", "informations" etc.
However, these uncountable nouns can be made countable with the use of items
of measurement called partitives. Partitives are expressions that are used
to make an uncountable noun countable. The underlined words in the examples
below are examples of partitives:
Examples
- A
piece of information.
- A
log of wood.
- A
drop/bucket of water.
- A
bowl/plate of rice.
- A
lorry load of sand.
- A
pint of blood/milk etc.
Having known what partitives are and how they can be used, I expect you to
put them into good use when dealing with uncountable nouns. Don't be a fan of
"there is no single water in the house".