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I am wondering if I could say:

I would like to have a salad.

In a restaurant I heard a girl say to the waiter, ordering a side dish from the menu for herself:

I would like salad.

My understanding is the first sentence means I want a certain kind of salad and the second all kinds of salad? Please correct me if I am mistaken.

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    What was the context? Were they saying it to the waiter to order a dish off the menu? Or to their friends, or something else? Commented 2 days ago
  • The statements are equivalent. Both would elicit the response, "Yes, sir (or madam), what kind of salad?" Commented 2 days ago

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Firstly, salad has both count and non-count usages:

salad [noun] [uncountable, countable]:

a mixture of raw vegetables such as lettuce, tomato and cucumber, usually served with other food as part of a meal

[Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary]

count usages:

  • [a] 'helpings / portions / complete meal' usage; compare 'two coffees' / 'three curries for table seven'.:

At a restaurant, two people might order, for instance, "two Caesar salads." The noun is used countably when it refers to a single portion served individually. Diners wouldn't be very likely to order "two plates of Caesar salad" or somesuch.

[Glenfarclas; Word Reference Forum]

We had salads on Tuesday and Friday....

... So that's two salads already this week!

  • [b] '[different] varieties of usage'; compare 'fifteen different ice creams are on offer':

Salad can be countable when referring to different sorts. "We've got three salads: tomato, Greek and tuna."

[Hermione Golightly; Word Reference Forum]

noncount usage:

  • We have some salad in the fridge. Compare 'we have some pork / chicken / rice / curry in the fridge.'

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The two statements given can be interchangeable (Master's comparison of the zero and indefinite articles), but 'I would like a salad' would be the usual choice if say 'Waldorf Salad' was offered as a complete dish and 'I would like [some] salad' when a side of salad was intended.

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  • Is it grammatically correct to say “I would like to have SOME salad” ? Commented 2 days ago
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    @Hausmeister33 Absolutely. "I'd like to have a salad", "I'd like to have some salad", and "I'd like to have salad" are all completely grammatical statements and mean functionally the same thing in actual usage. (At least in the US. If there's a subtle shading of meaning there for UK English speakers then I can't speak to that.) Commented 2 days ago
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    @Hausmeister33 The "I would like salad" you overheard in the restaurant would likely be where there is a choice of side/appetizer/etc, such as "soup or salad", especially when only one type of salad is offered (versus where you might choose garden salad, Greek salad, Caesar salad, etc)—the count is irrelevant/implied, as the speaker was specifying which of the options they preferred. "I would like a salad", "I would like salad", and "I would like the salad" are all valid and equivalent in this situation. "I would like some salad" might be a bit unusual in this context, but would be understood. Commented 2 days ago
  • In summary, a salad is made of salad. Commented 2 days ago
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My understanding (British English) is that, in a restaurant, 'a salad' would often be a complete dish made up of salad ingredients with a protein source, such as 'a chicken salad', 'a lentil salad'.

Sometimes a main dish, such as a portion of meat, will be offered with a choice of accompaniment; cooked vegetables or a portion of salad. So a diner who is asked which one they want could say "I would like salad, please."

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    (In the latter context, if you wanted to explicitly refer to a single portion you could instead ask for “a side-salad”, confirming that it's an accompaniment and not another main dish.) Commented 2 days ago
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    @gidds - True, but in my experience a 'side salad' is usually charged as an extra rather than being an optional part of the main dish. Commented 2 days ago
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Previous answers describe the modern English usage perfectly well.

For completeness though, it might be useful to add that "a salad" used to mean "a lettuce". See for example the Beatrix Potter story The Tale of Jeremy Fisher.

And Mr. Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise brought a salad with him in a string bag.

The picture makes this meaning clear.

picture of tortoise with lettuce in a string bag

This corresponds to usage of the word "Salat" in German, which still (on its own) means "lettuce".

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  • 'Salad' still has the separate sense 'a green vegetable (eg lettuce) or herb grown to be included in a salad [meal or side]'. Commented 2 days ago
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“I would like salad” is an internal thought, like what yusef explained. You are not requesting anything. It’s all about the context in whatever situation you are in. Another way of it being used, is questioning the salad in question… “I would like salad, but…” you understand? So the person you heard. They just lack proper grammar.

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    There's nothing ungrammatical about "I would like salad". Commented 2 days ago

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