Timeline for Why isn't watermelon plural in this sentence?
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| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| yesterday | comment | added | user8356 | One watermelon, two mangoes and three oranges make the salad. Hence, "I'm mixing (two) mangoes, (a) watermelon, and (three) oranges in the salad." You could consider it elision of the quantities. | |
| yesterday | history | became hot network question | |||
| 2 days ago | history | edited | Robusto | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 2 characters in body
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| 2 days ago | history | edited | phoog | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
edited title
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| 2 days ago | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | Grog and poteen are pretty well-known strong drinks in the UK. Navy and Irish connections respectively. They are fairly rare nowadays, so resistant to countification. | |
| 2 days ago | comment | added | Hausmeister33 | @EdwinAshworth Never heard of such words. Probably they’re used on the west coast. | |
| 2 days ago | answer | added | No Name | timeline score: 12 | |
| 2 days ago | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | 3 mangoes, 3 oranges. and 2 cupfuls of watermelon, say. of watermelon. 'Water' (count usages) has been discussed before, as has 'toast'. 'Milk' seems as if it's now also being countified. But I've not heard say '2 grogs, please' or '3 poteens'. | |
| 2 days ago | comment | added | Hausmeister33 | @EdwinAshworth 8 cupfuls of watermelon or 8 watermelons(?). With water they say „I would like 2 (bottled) waters“ | |
| 2 days ago | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | 'I am making a fruit salad. I am mixing mangoes and oranges. with a corresponding amount of watermelon.' (3 + 3 + 2 cupfuls?) | |
| 2 days ago | comment | added | Hausmeister33 | @EdwinAshworth how I do use that in a context? I always hear it in the singular. | |
| 2 days ago | answer | added | Nuclear Hoagie | timeline score: 16 | |
| 2 days ago | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | It's a confusing usage here, a noncount usage stuck between two obvious count usages in a list. It could be framed better. But using 'watermelons' would demand an awful lot of watermelon in the recipe. | |
| 2 days ago | comment | added | Stuart F | Mango is often a mass noun, particularly when shredded, powdered, etc. But orange as a mass noun makes you think of the colour not the fruit. | |
| 2 days ago | answer | added | Xanne | timeline score: 5 | |
| Jan 29 at 4:40 | comment | added | HippoSawrUs | A watermelon is a whole watermelon, not like a coffee could mean a cup of coffee. | |
| Jan 29 at 3:42 | comment | added | Tinfoil Hat | Depending on the size of your fruit salad, you might have more than one mango and more than one orange. But it’s unlikely that more than one watermelon would be involved. | |
| Jan 29 at 3:05 | history | edited | Hausmeister33 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 40 characters in body
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| Jan 29 at 2:18 | comment | added | Cerberus - Reinstate Monica♦ | That looks like a typo to me. But can you provide more context? What text is this a part of, etc.? | |
| S Jan 29 at 1:32 | review | First questions | |||
| Jan 29 at 5:40 | |||||
| S Jan 29 at 1:32 | history | asked | Hausmeister33 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |