count & noncount noun

[unruly2009]

Are vegetable and fruit non-count nouns? And if they are, why do I see them written as fruits and vegetables? Please help--I'm utterly confused. Thanks a million.

[PROESL]

Originally Posted by unruly2009

Are vegetable and fruit non-count nouns? And if they are, why do I see them written as fruits and vegetables? Please help--I'm utterly confused. Thanks a million.

The noun "vegetable" is countable. We mostly treat the noun "fruit" as an uncountable noun. However, sometimes we use it as a countable noun, which is why you'll read or hear "fruits" sometimes. The reason we may read or hear "fruits and vegetables" is to maintain a certain kind of parallel structure: a plural form on both sides of "and".

Another reason we may hear or read "fruits" is for commercial purposes: the store wants to draw attention to the fact that there is a variety of different types of fruit.

Just the same, most of the time we treat "fruit" as an uncountable noun. So if you go shopping, you might say "I'm going to get some fruit at the market."

There are other uncountable nouns which, at times, we treat as countable nouns. Two that come to mind are "food" and "fish".