General statement relating to food ?

[xanana]

Group A

I don't take cocaine.
I don't take meat.

--

Group B
I don't take vegetables.
I don't take eggs.
I don't take drugs

--

In Group A; there is no s after the food noun.
In Group B; there is an s after every food noun.
When do you decide to add the s ?

Thanks

 

[Red5]

I'm sure this is something to do with whether the noun is countable or not.

You can have one egg, and three vegetables. However, you couldn't have one cocaine, or fifteen meat.

I will have to let the teachers here comment on this further. ;-)

 

[Anonymous]

I'm sure this is something to do with whether the noun is countable or not. <<<<

Definitely. We can count eggs, but we can't count meat.

https://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/count-noun.html

https://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/uncountable-noun.html

https://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/mass-noun.html

 

[Tdol]

Cocaine is a powder and meat is a substance, so neither can be counted. You can, of course, count grammes of cocaine and pieces of meat. Meat could have a plural if you were thinking of the different kinds, which is not the case in this sentence. If cocaine has different types, then it could take a plural. I'm afraid I don't know and have never heard it used in the plural.

 

[Anonymous]

Cocaine is a powder and meat is a substance, so neither can be counted. You can, of course, count grammes of cocaine and pieces of meats. Meat could have a plural if you were thinking of the different kinds, which is not the case in this sentence. If cocaine has different types, then it could take a plural. I'm afraid I don't know and have never heard it used in the plural.

I thought of "pieces of meat", but I didn't write it.

:roll: :shock:

Nevertheless - 8)

 

[Anonymous]

Cocaine is a powder and meat is a substance, so neither can be counted. You can, of course, count grammes of cocaine and pieces of meats. Meat could have a plural if you were thinking of the different kinds, which is not the case in this sentence. If cocaine has different types, then it could take a plural. I'm afraid I don't know and have never heard it used in the plural.

"You can't have your pudding until you eat your meat. How can you have pudding if you don't eat your meat."

It was something like that. Right?

 

[Tdol]

Possibly: I'm not sure.