Is there a situation where an accepted uninflected plural variant is not available?

Question

When would you use fishes instead of fish? The same goes for fruits and any other word where a different plural form exists but the singular is most commonly used for plural. I am looking for a sentence where the singular form would be wrong and the explicit plural form must be used instead.

The following pages do not answer my question:

Irregular plurality situations in English

When is it correct to not use the irregular form for a plural? e.g. mouses vs. mice (fish & fishes)

Tushar Raj · Answer

If you are talking about different varieties of the thing, use the inflected plural form.

The aquarium houses many kinds of fishes.
  
  I tasted several new tropical fruits.

In all other cases, stick with the uninflected form of the noun:

You should eat lots of fruit/fish

EDIT: I remember reading about this in an Oxford dictionary (printed). I found this online resource to corroborate my answer.

Paul Rowe · Answer

There are times, particularly in "legalese", where you will see the use of persons instead of people. I don't claim to know why. If you need illustrations, I'm sure I can find some in short order.

Greg Lee · Answer

"Trout, greyling, and char are technically all salmons."
"Squids is a video game."
"Many fishes and snakes move by contracting muscles in waves down the body, which bends the body to each side."

Is there a situation where an accepted uninflected plural variant is not available?

3 Answers

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question