但也有一些抽象名词是可数的，如 victory , a victory , two victories ; conference , a conference , several conferences 。
还有一些抽象名词可以复数形式出现，但不能计数。例如 difficulty , difficulties ; opinion , opinions ；又例如 sympathy （同情、怜悯）可以加复数词缀 sympathies ，其复数形式意义有所扩大，除作"同情"、"怜悯"解外，还可作"慰问"解：I sent my sympathies （慰问） to the relatives of the dead.
还有一些抽象名词有复数与非复数两种形式，但表示不同的意义。当 experience 作"经验"解时，它没有复数，但作"经历"解时，两种形式均可。
有些抽象名词表示抽象概念是不可数名词，而表示具体事物则是可数名词。例如 relation 作"关系"解是不可数名词，而作"亲戚"解则是可数名词
有些抽象名词本身没有复数形式，如果要计数，就得使用在语义上与之对应的个体名词。
英语中还有少数几个名词，如 family , room , mouth , ear 等，似乎只能是可数名词，但实际上这类名词在某些搭配中也可表示抽象概念，从而成为不可数名词
例如 to have too much family (= too heavy family burden ), to have too much winter (= a too long spell of cold weather ), to have too much mouth (= to talk too much ), to have too little ear (= to be not inclined to listen to others ), to have room for (= to have a need for ), to feel the patriot rise ...(= to feel the patriotic feelings rise ...）等。
英语中还有一些名词（大多是指人的名词），通常作可数名词，但在特殊的搭配中表示人的特质等抽象意义时便成了不可数名词。例如 fool 本属可数名词，但在 to be fool enough (=to be foolish enough ), more of a fool than (=more foolish than ), less of a fool than (=less foolish than ), as much of a fool as (=as foolish as ), too much of a fool ( too foolish ）等搭配中，便表示抽象意义，成为不可数名词。
类似的名词还有 man , coward , coquette , politician , sportsman , scholar , poet 等。例如：
He was enough of a man to tell the truth .（他光明磊落，讲了实话。)
He is as much of a coward as his brother .（他弟兄俩都是胆小鬼。)
He is not so much of a statesman as David .（他没有大卫那样的政治家气度。)
She doesn ' t look as much of a scholar as her husband .（她没有她老公那样的学者风度。)
还有一些抽象名词，当它们在不同的语境中以单数或复数形式出现时，可以表示多种不同的意义,例如 brain,brains :
An average child of four years old has a brain twice as large as that of an adult gorilla.（一个四岁普通儿童的脑子要比成年大猩猩的大一倍。)
He has no brains.（他没有脑子／不聪明。)
He is the brains of the firm.（他是公司的智囊。)
