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"A Basket of Egg" or "A Basket of Eggs"? | ||
Tags: Syntax | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Monox D. I-Fly Senior Member Indonesia monoxdifly.iopc.us Joined 5136 days ago 762 posts - 664 votes  Speaks: Indonesian* | Message 1 of 11 19 March 2015 at 3:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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I got a job editing an English elementary school student worksheet book, and was confused about which one is correct among "a basket of egg" and "a basket of eggs". There is a picture showing a basket full of eggs and the caption reads "A basket of egg". However two panels later, there is also a picture showing a basket full of fruits whose caption reads "A basket of fruits". Which one is correct? Should the letter "s" be omitted or not? Or maybe the "s" should indeed be omitted, but the fruits one still has it because the basket contains different types of fruits? Edited by Monox D. I-Fly on 19 March 2015 at 4:06pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5263 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 2 of 11 19 March 2015 at 5:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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"A basket of egg"? "Eggs" is plural. "Egg" is singular. A Basket of "egg" would be just one single egg. "Fruits" is a little more problematic. "Fruit" can be both singular and collective plural, i.e.: "a fruit basket" is a basket with fruit in it (collective), usually different ones. "A basket of fruits" is also correct but less commonly used than "a fruit basket".
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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5376 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 3 of 11 19 March 2015 at 6:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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When I hear "a basket of egg" I visualize a basket with scrambled egg in it (egg, but not an individualized egg).
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| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7206 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 4 of 11 19 March 2015 at 11:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think Easter Bunny.
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| Jimjam Newbie Australia Joined 3987 days ago 19 posts - 22 votes Studies: Japanese, German | Message 5 of 11 22 March 2015 at 4:04am | IP Logged | ||
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They are all technically correct.
I think of the same thing as james29 in regards to a basket of egg. A basket of eggs would be a basket with eggs inside. A basket of fruit is being general in saying that it just has fruit in it, while a basket of fruits sounds like it is making it known that there are various fruits inside the basket. You would be much more likely to hear someone say "a basket of fruit" and "a basket of eggs". 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Monox D. I-Fly Senior Member Indonesia monoxdifly.iopc.us Joined 5136 days ago 762 posts - 664 votes Speaks: Indonesian* | Message 6 of 11 22 March 2015 at 6:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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So, among "1 kilogram of egg" and "1 kilogram of eggs", the correct one is the latter?
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| chaotic_thought Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 3543 days ago 129 posts - 274 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Dutch, French | Message 7 of 11 22 March 2015 at 6:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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As James29 mentioned, "A basket of egg" does imply different semantics than a "basket of eggs". In particular, "egg" in the first example is pointing to a noncount variety. If several eggs were scrambled or liquified, for example, I would look at the result and say
That is egg. Or, imagine you broke several eggs and put the resulting substance over your face as a skin creme. Someone could remark, You've got egg on your face. Finally, if you filled a basket with such a substance, then indeed That is a basket of egg. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Alphathon Groupie Scotland Joined 4181 days ago 60 posts - 104 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Scottish Gaelic | Message 8 of 11 04 April 2015 at 6:28pm | IP Logged | ||
Both are correct, but mean different things. 1kg of eggs would be a group/collection of individual eggs which collectively weigh 1kg. 1kg of egg is a little more complex. It could mean 1kg worth of the substance "egg", i.e. the liquid contents of one or more eggs (the white(s) + the yolk(s)). It could also refer to that substance after it is cooked as long as it cannot be divided into multiple individual items. (e.g. 1kg of scrambled egg is fine). The issue is that egg can be both a count noun, when it refers to individual eggs, and a mass noun, when it refers to the contents. A similar issue arises to fruit(s). A less complicated example would be something like chicken. You can have chickens (multiple birds), in which case you'd have a basket of chickens. You can also have chicken (the meat), in which case you'd have a basket of chicken. If you only have one bird, you'd usually call that something like a chicken in a basket or a basket with a chicken in it; you wouldn't say a basket of chicken. Edited by Alphathon on 04 April 2015 at 7:00pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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