[General] sending sausage

[Silverobama]

I'll meet a friend next week and I want to give him a new year gift. I bought two bags of sausages. One flavor is sweet and the other is spicy. Are my following sentences natural? I'll use the correct ones when I meet that friend.

1) I bought you some sausage as a new-year gift.
2) I bought you some sausages as a new-year gift.
3) Here are some sausages for your new-year gift.
4) Here are some sausage for your new-year gift.

I notice that "sausauge" is both countable and uncountable.

I think 1) and 2) are okay, but would you please help me to make the 3) and 4) natural too?

 

[jutfrank]

Use 2) and forget about the others.

Happy New Year, by the way, Silverobama. I wish you plenty of happiness and prosperity for the coming months.

 

[GoesStation]

Number one works fine for me, too. Three isn't very natural. Four has a subject/verb agreement error. Can you find it? (It won't be very natural when it's fixed, but at least it will be grammatical.)

 

[GoesStation]

This reminds me of the gifts of sausage a Chinese girl I knew in college used to get from her mother in Hong Kong. They were skinny, dried sausages, packed in sugar to preserve them. Yum!

 

[tedmc]

Would the present perfect tense (have bought) be better?

 

[GoesStation]

Would the present perfect tense (have bought) be better?

It also works but I wouldn't say it's better.

 

[Silverobama]

Use 2) and forget about the others.

Happy New Year, by the way, Silverobama. I wish you plenty of happiness and prosperity for the coming months.

Much appreciated, jutfrank. It's very very kind of you to say that.

Four has a subject/verb agreement error. Can you find it?

Here is some sausage for your new-year gift.

I think this is grammatical.

This reminds me of the gifts of sausage a Chinese girl I knew in college used to get from her mother in Hong Kong. They were skinny, dried sausages, packed in sugar to preserve them. Yum!

Sausages made in Guangdong province (close to Hong Kong, where I lived for 10 years) are different than those in west-eastern China, for example, my hometown.

I don't know they are made in Canton but they're always sweet as you've described, GS.

In my hometown, during the winter season, people use pine wood and tangerine leaves to smoke sausages, usually these sausages are spicy and peppery and therefore more delectable.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Much appreciated, jutfrank. It's very very kind of you to say that.

Here is some sausage for your new-year gift.

I think this is grammatical.

Sausages made in Guangdong province (close to Hong Kong, where I lived for ten years) are different than those in west-eastern China — for example, my hometown.

West-eastern? Maybe you mean northeastern or southeastern.

I don't know if/whether they are made in Canton, but they're always sweet as you've described, GS.

In my hometown, during the winter season, people use pine wood and tangerine leaves to smoke sausages. Usually these sausages are spicy and peppery and therefore more delectable.

Better!

 

[emsr2d2]

I would take "Here is some sausage" to refer to uncooked sausage meat, ready to be turned into sausages. I would use "Here are some sausages" if they've already been shaped into sausages and are in skins, ready to cook.

 

[jutfrank]

I'd assume the sausages were cooked.

There doesn't appear to be a good reason not to use sausages in the plural here, which is why sentence 2) is the best thing to say.

 

[GoesStation]

Maybe this is another American/British difference. Sausage is a less prominent part of American cuisine, which may play a part; in any case, I think Americans are much more likely to use sausage non-countably and would therefore favor number one.

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, sorry, I should have said that if the sausages were already cooked/ready to eat, then "Here are some sausages" is required.

 

[GoesStation]

I'd assume the sausages were cooked.

The image that popped into my mind was of Chinese dried sausage. I don't think it's cooked; rather, it's preserved by other means.

 

[GoesStation]

Yes, sorry, I should have said that if the sausages were already cooked/ready to eat, then "Here are some sausages" is required.

Not in American English. Here, have some sausage.

 

[emsr2d2]

Not in American English. Here, have some sausage.

Out of curiosity then, if you bought the product in the image below (ready to put a barbecue, for example), would you say "I've bought some sausage" or "I've bought some sausages"?

 

[jutfrank]

The image that popped into my mind was of Chinese dried sausage. I don't think it's cooked; rather, it's preserved by other means.

Right. That is actually what I meant. Cured and spiced.

Maybe this is another American/British difference. Sausage is a less prominent part of American cuisine, which may play a part; in any case, I think Americans are much more likely to use sausage non-countably and would therefore favor number one.

Interesting. The basic difference between the singular and plural here is that the singular (non-count) use is evidence that the speaker is thinking of the product in a more generalised way—it's seen more as a kind of food (a substance) than as a collection of things. I suppose that if the speaker knows that the listener is unfamiliar with the foodstuff as a type, then the singular would be more appropriate.

Not in American English. Here, have some sausage.

So how does the plural sound to an American? Does it sound odd? Or is it just a lot less likely? Or less appropriate?

 

[GoesStation]

Out of curiosity then, if you bought the product in the image below (ready to put a barbecue, for example), would you say "I've bought some sausage" or "I've bought some sausages"?

Definitely "some sausage".

 

[emsr2d2]

Definitely "some sausage".

Ah, so in AmE, it's generally used uncountably. Presumably, though, it would be possible to say "How many sausages are in this pack?", making it countable. Is that right? I'll be surprised if you say that the natural question there would be "How much sausage is in this pack?"

 

[GoesStation]

Ah, so in AmE, it's generally used uncountably. Presumably, though, it would be possible to say "How many sausages are in this pack?", making it countable. Is that right?

Yes. Here's an example of noncountable use that just popped up in a Facebook ad.

 

[GoesStation]

For learners:
As in most cases of countable versus non-countable nouns, getting this right isn't important for comprehensibility. Moreover, it's far from impossible for an American native speaker to use sausages in many of the cases we've been discussing. It's just a lot less likely than the singular sausage.