Include the articles or not?

1. This ingenious unit was built to make a profit.
2. Now, you should stand in front of class / the class and write the names down.

Hi. Thank you. It is hard to understand why the word "profit" cannot be correct in the first sentence.

How about this? Is the phrase "additional income" correct in this sentence? I replaced the original "a profit" (in the corrected version) with the phrase "additional income." Or should it be the phrase "an additional income"? Thank you again in advance.

This ingenious unit wa

Hi;

Profit is a count noun, so use the article:

We made a profit of 12% on gross income last year.

Income (like money) is non-count, so no article is needed.

This ingenious unit was built to create additional income / a profit for us.

Hi. Thank you. I checked Cambridge Dictionaries Online for the word "profit" and it had this sentence as an example among some others. I believe the following example shows the word "profit" can be used as an uncountable noun.

You don't expect to make much profit within the first couple of years of setting up a company.


I think the word "income" can also be both countable an

AnonymousI think the word "income" can also be both countable and uncountable depending on use.

Yes, you are right, it depends on usage. But in your sentence #1, it is a count noun.

He makes a good income from his business.
You can't expect a new business to generate much income.