When Is it OK to use ‘fruit’ and ‘food’ in the plural form?
Take a look at these two sentences:
I prefer to eat organic fruits and vegetables.
If you’d like to try something exotic to eat, there are special sections for foreign foods.
*Fruit and food are usually used in the singular form.
Quick review:
In English, there are countable (count) nouns and uncountable (non-count) nouns.
Countable nouns = things that you can count:
1 plant, 2 plants, 2 plants
1 tooth, 2 teeth, 3 teeth
etc.
Uncountable nouns = things that you cannot count, or nouns that represent a group:
information
advice
homework
furniture
clothing
grammar
*They have NO plural form.
Usually food is an uncountable noun. You can’t count one food, two foods, etc.
Do you have any food to eat?
There was so much food at our Thanksgiving dinner!
Food is also an uncountable noun when we talk about different kinds of food:
fast food
junk food
health food
Chinese food
Italian food
When I said foreign foods I used foods to describe the food from different countries:
foreign foods = Chinese food, Italian food, Indian food, Japanese food, German food, etc.
*In this case, it’s OK to use foods in the plural form.
Usually fruit is an uncountable noun. In English, we usually count fruit by saying 1 piece of fruit, 2 pieces of fruit, a bowl of fruit, etc.
It is OK to use fruits when you are talking about many different kinds of fruit:
You can find bananas, grapes and other fruits in the produce section.
Make sure to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
Other uncountable nouns that can be countable:
BBC Learning English: peoples, persons
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[…] Grammar – When Is it OK to use ‘fruits’ and ‘food’ in the … – I prefer to eat organic fruits and vegetables. … grammar *They have NO plural form. Usually food is an uncountable noun. You can’t count one food, … Italian food. When I said foreign foods I used foods to describe the food from different countries: […]
hello melanie…
i want to buy a domain name with two words, “four” and “food”.
So, is it right if i use fourfood(dot)com? or should i use fourfoods(dot)com?
Thank you!
Hello Zen,
‘Fourfood (dot) com is right, but unfortunately someone already has it!
http://www.fourfoods.com/
What kind of website do you want to have?
Take care,
Melanie
Thank you Melanie…
That’s right, i’m still looking for a great domain name. It’s a food related social networking site.
Hello again, Melanie…
Finally, i choose ninefood.com.
Thank you for the advice.
ps.
I would like to invite you there
Hi, Zen!
Wow – your new site is very impressive! Is it a ‘Ning’ social network? Great job!
I wish you lots of success with your new website!
Melanie
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Hello, Teacher Melanie.
Is it okay to use the plural form ‘foods’ here?
My favorite foods are chicken and pizza.
Thanks a lot!
Hi, Ren!
Yes, it’s fine to use ‘foods’ in your sentence.
I love pizza, too!
Melanie
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hye teacher melanie..
hope you can help me to identify is it singular or plural form that i need to use for this sentence..:
a company name, for example:
Amy frozen food
or is it
Amy Frozen Foods ?
tq teacher !
Hi, Amy!
I’m so sorry to take so long to answer your question. I didn’t get an email when you posted this & I just found your comment today!
What kind of company is it? I think it should be:
“Amy’s Frozen Food” -or-
“Amy’s Frozen Foods”
All the words should be capitalized in a name. There are many companies with “Frozen Foods” in the title. From a quick Google search:
Oxford Frozen Foods
BC Frozen Foods
Heritage Frozen Foods
I hope that helps!
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Dear Melanie!
Roses have fruit that are used to make tea.
or
Roses have fruits that are used to make tea.
(or Roses have fruit that is used to make tea?)
Since (wild) roses have many fruits, which version will be the correct one?
Thanks!
Hmmm…this is a tough question, Inese! I had to do some research on roses.
You can rewrite the statement:
Fruit from a rose is used to make tea.
The fruit of a rose is used to make tea.
Fruit from roses is used to make tea.
The fruit from a rose is called ‘rose hip.’ So, you can also say:
Rose hips are used to make tip.
I hope that helps!
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Thanks a lot, Melanie!
Hi melanie!
Is it ok to use food in this statement? : we welcome u 2013 with these yummy food on our dinner table. ..
Or should i say we welcome 2013 with so much food on our dinner table…
What do think ma’am?
Hi, Anne!
You can say:
“We welcome 2013 with THIS yummy food on our dinner table.”
Happy New Year!
Melanie
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Hi Melanie,
The following question doesn’t sound right to me, but I’m not sure why:
“Is fruit the same as vegetables?”
While alternatives such as “Is a fruit the same as a vegetable?” or “Are fruit and vegetables the same?” sound fine, “Is fruit the same as vegetables?” sounds wrong. Do you agree? If so, why is it wrong?
Thanks!
Hi, John,
Why would you ever need to say “Is fruit the same as vegetables?”?
Sometimes there is no reason why something is wrong. There is just an accepted & natural way of saying things, and an unnatural way of saying things. “Is fruit the same as vegetables?” is one of those things. It just doesn’t sound right or natural. I can’t imagine a context when you would want to ask this question.
The best way to write the question is:
“Are fruit and vegetables the same?”
Although, I don’t know why anyone would ask that question.
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Thanks Melanie. I came across the question in a Japanese-produced book I’m required to use to teach English here in Japan. The question is followed in the book by several possible answers and students have to select the most appropriate answer (e.g. “No, they’re different”). Alarm bells started ringing, however, because the question itself appeared to be ungrammatical, although I couldn’t say why. Your answer is very helpful. Thanks so much.
John
My favorite foods are chicken and pizza. That’s correct.
What if you do this? My favorite food is chicken and pizza
Hi, Ana!
You’re right. “My favorite food is chicken and pizza” doesn’t sound correct. You are talking about two different kinds of food.
Your first sentence is correct. You could also say, “My favorite kinds of food are chicken & pizza.”
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Thank you!
What if it’s one kind of food?
“My favorite food is strawberries.”
“My favorite foods are strawberries.”
It’s much easier and simpler to say, “I like strawberries,” but many students start off with “my favorite food…”
I just realized I wrote “food” instead of “fruit.”
“My favorite food is green peppers.” (Is this okay?)
“My favorite foods are green peppers.”
(or changing “green peppers” to “sweets”)
“My favorite food is a green pepper” is grammatically correct, but doesn’t it sound weird?
Would you say:
“My favorite food is green pepper.”
I think many students start off with “my favorite food/fruit/etc. is …” because that’s probably taught to them in textbooks, and it’s a logical way to answer the question “What’s your favourite food?”
You’re right, it’s much more natural to say “I like strawberries.”
‘Strawberries,’ even though it’s plural, is only one kind of fruit, so you can say,
‘My favorite food is strawberries’ even though it looks odd. The same is true for ‘green peppers.’
Do you really have a favorite fruit or vegetable?!
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Thanks Melanie!
Actually, I love blueberries!
All the fruits are edible except the pink ones.
Is this sentence correct?
I guess it depends on what fruits your are taking about!
If you are looking at a table or box full of fruit, and you want to tell people which ones they can’t eat, you can say,
“All the fruits are edible except the pink ones.”
Although, “All the fruit is edible except the pink ones” is fine, too.
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Thanks Melanie
Hi Melanie, if I want to order food in a restaurant that serves a cup of fruit or chip with their sandwich. Is it okay to say, “I would like to order a sandwich with fruits”?
Thanks!
Hi, Carrie!
It’s better to say,
“I would like to order a sandwich with fruit.” since it’s just one cup with fruit in it.
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Dear Melanie, I have a problem in the following sentence on the usage of singular and plural number of the word ‘Year’. My eleven year/years old daughter talks about many interesting things. In this sentence, which is the most appropriate and grammatical. I’m waiting for your reply and hope you do so. With regards, Henry kamei
Hi, Henry!
This is a very common question!
Compare these two sentences:
1. “My daughter is eleven YEARS old and she talks about many interesting things.”
In this sentence, ‘years’ is the noun. ‘Eleven’ acts like an adjective, describing the number of years.
2. “My eleven-YEAR-old daughter talks about many interesting things.”
In this sentence, ‘eleven-year-old’ is the adjective phrase. It describes the daughter. In this form, ‘year’ is ALWAYS singular.
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Thanks, Melanie!
Hi Teacher Melanie,
I need help in this text…
“Eat plenty of vegetables and fruit. This food group contains a lot of vitamins. The vitamin C in these foods helps to heal wounds and to keep your skin healthy. ”
In this text, should I use helps or help?
Thanks
JacQue
Hi, Jacque!
I’m so sorry I didn’t see your comment earlier.
Use ‘fruits’ instead of ‘fruit’:
“Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. These food groups contain a lot of vitamins. The vitamin C in these foods helps to heal wounds and to keep your skin healthy. ”
“Helps” is correct because it agrees with ‘vitamin C’. You can take out the other words to check that the sentences is correct: “The Vitamin C …. helps to …”
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Hi Melanie. I have problem in using more or much in this sentence.
Starfruits contain more/much vitamin c than other fruits.
Please help me.
Thanks,
Wendy
Hi, Wendy!
‘More’ is correct:
“Starfruits contain more vitamin c than other fruits.”
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Hi Melanie,
I have a question, does the words “fruit” and “vegetables” work different? and if so, why?
Thank you,
Fer
Hi, Fer,
I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand your question. Do you mean, “Are the words “fruit” and “vegetable” used in the same way?”
Fruits & vegetables are both plural nouns, so you use them the same way in a sentence.
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Hi Melanie!
I would like to label a bin in my refrigerator for various vegetables and label another for various fruit. Should the label read “fruit” or “fruits”?
Thank you!
Hi, Sophie!
You should label is “fruit.”
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Thank you!