Is my encarta dictionary wrong or am I wrong. A book I was teaching had the phrase “There are some corns” It also had “There are some lettuces” I alway thought you would have to say “There is some corn” but when I checked my encarta dictionary it stated that the plural noun of corn is corns. Same with lettuce and milk, the dictionary states that the plural of these nouns are lettuces and milks.
To say “there are some corns” seems completely wrong to me. If any of the Forumosan grammar experts could help me out I would appreciate it. Is it okay to say “there are some corns”; “there are some milks” or “there are some lettuces”?
It just seems wrong to me but I am willing to stand corrected.
[quote=“Gilgamesh”]Is my encarta dictionary wrong or am I wrong. A book I was teaching had the phrase “There are some corns” It also had “There are some lettuces” I alway thought you would have to say “There is some corn” but when I checked my encarta dictionary it stated that the plural noun of corn is corns. Same with lettuce and milk, the dictionary states that the plural of these nouns are lettuces and milks.
To say “there are some corns” seems completely wrong to me. If any of the Forumosan grammar experts could help me out I would appreciate it. Is it okay to say “there are some corns”; “there are some milks” or “there are some lettuces”?
It just seems wrong to me but I am willing to stand corrected.[/quote]
I don’t know who this encarta guy is, but “Are there any corns left?” sounds really really wrong to me.
In this case, couldn’t you just say different kinds of lettuce etc.
I’m not a grammar expert but the “s” still sounds wrong to me. I convinced the school to let the kids change the sentence from “There are some lettuces” to “There is some lettuce” Now I’m hoping that I wasnt wrong.
You can count lettuce in a vegetable garden or supermarket, but not in a salad or a sandwich. There are some lettuces makes sense to me but then My Grandmother’s maiden name is Cornfoot.
“There are some lettuces” sounds completely wrong, unless it’s some expert gardener talking about different varieties of lettuce he’s growing. Same with corns. (With obvious exceptions, like corns on someone’s feet!)
Lewis Carroll wrote of cabbages and kings in one of the Alice in Wonderland books and he could have just as easily wrote of lettuces and kings. I doubt he would have written of corns and kings though for the reason listed above.
I used to think fruits, candies and meats were all dead wrong in any context.
In this case, couldn’t you just say different kinds of lettuce etc.[/quote]
yes, you certainly can. i’m sure it’s more ordinary. the plurals i referred to are the kind of thing you might here in academic contexts or say on a discovery channel documentary.
no, i agree with you. no one would say “there are some lettuces” where i come from. there could be regional differences.
I’m no grammar expert, but I agree with MM. To me ‘lettuces’ means heads of lettuce - “there were some lettuces growing in the garden”. Lettuce means the leaves - “I had a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich - without the lettuce”. Same with cabbage/s actually
I think the point of having heads of lettuce is that it is uncountable and you need a countable unit so you can discuss it. Because heads of lettuce and ears of corns is used for whole units you won’t have lettuces or corns for whole units. Those would only be used for different kinds of the thing.
Since there is no term for a whole pizza (circle of pizza?) then the default is pizzas.
I expect for standard North American English the best choice is to make them uncountable.
I think the point of having heads of lettuce is that it is uncountable and you need a countable unit so you can discuss it. Because heads of lettuce and ears of corns is used for whole units you won’t have lettuces or corns for whole units.[/quote]
Well, I would never say “corns” unless I was talking about feet (eww). However, I have managed to track my use of lettuces all the way back to the Beatrix Potter books, which are examples of its use in older British English. Obviously, standard NA usage may be different.
I’m not entirely sure about the point made above. To continue in the gardening vein, I could use “heads of cabbage” but also “cabbages” and “cabbage” for the shredded state. One does not seem to preclude the other, unless, of course, you would argue against “cabbages” as well. Edit: After a lot of thought, I think it IS a very good point generally speaking though. It may just be a British thing, or I may need to bring my vocabulary into the 21st century
If you Google, you’ll find plenty of people use it (“head/s of cabbage”), strange or not. I would say “cabbages” in reference to the plant in its growing state. But then, I would probably say “lettuces” as well.
“Cabbage heads” seems natural both as a gardening term and an insult. How do you order half a lettuce in North America? Do you really have to say “I want half a head of lettuce”? Just wondering.
