English Language & Usage Asked by OJFord on June 13, 2021
I was just now watching a TV programme where a character said "I’m concerned when we switch brands of coffee".
Ignoring the choice of:
switch brands of coffee // switch coffee brands
Is it correct to say brands (pl.), because to me both the above and:
switch brand of coffee // switch coffee brand
sound fine, or at least, I do hear both. Which is "more correct"?
I can justify either: the sentence speaks of switching to a singular thing, but then it switches between plural things.
Whether you switch brands or change trains, the idiom is pretty clear:
If the object changed is indeterminate, the plural is overwhelmingly preferred to the singular, by a factor of 25-40 to 1—doubtless because you are exchanging one brand/train for another.
In the rare case of a determinate object, however—if you change your train or they switch their brand—the plural vanishes and the singular rules.
Correct answer by StoneyB on hiatus on June 13, 2021
When you switch something, you need at least two things: A (from which you switch) and B (to which you switch). Therefore "something" should be plural. See an example in Cambridge Dictionary; After the bank robbery, the gang switched cars (= left one car and got into another). http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/switch
Answered by Tsukasa Matsuura on June 13, 2021
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