These things cannot easily be separated into individual items. But many nouns are uncountable for less obvious reasons. Most concepts or abstract ideas like peace , happiness , wealth and knowledge are uncountable. So are many activities such as swimming , eating , and debauchery , and some conditions such as confusion , frustration , satisfaction , and certainty . The names of most disciplines are also uncountable, for example, sociology , medicine , anthropology .
Nouns ending in -ism are also usually uncountable, for example, feminism , optimism , patriotism .
Some uncountable nouns like money , homework , work , and gossip are very confusing for learners of English because they seem to refer to particular items, yet they are treated as general. Jobs are countable items that are specific instances of the general idea of work . In the same way, homework is not the particular assignment or assignments a student does. It is the general idea of students doing assignments. Money is an interesting example of an uncountable noun because, of course, lots of people love to count their money .