fruit are?

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changeling

#545563 Wed, 23 Jul 08 06:27 PM

Hi everybody!

Could you, please, check my grammar in the following sentence:

Fresh fruit are what makes this dessert figure-friendly

Thanks in advance

changeling

Joined on Sat, May 10 2008

Junior Member (66)

Grammar

Philip

#545565 Wed, 23 Jul 08 06:41 PM

Fruit is a category of food, so it can be used as a singular here. I really like all the fresh fruit at the market.

Philip

Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005

USA Pacific Northwest (Seattle)

Veteran Member (6,181)

At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen

Goodman

#545575 Wed, 23 Jul 08 07:11 PM

Fruit can either be used in singular or plural contexts.
Mary and John like different kinds of fruits.
Mary's favorite fruit is mango
John's favorite fruits are orange and watermelon

Goodman

Joined on Mon, Nov 7 2005

Calif. USA

Senior Member (3,172)

The name says it all!

Plurals

Cool Breeze

#545594 Wed, 23 Jul 08 08:17 PM

changeling

Fresh fruit are what makes this dessert figure-friendly

Your sentence is fine.

Cool Breeze

Joined on Fri, Apr 7 2006

Helsinki, Finland

Senior Member (2,838)

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.- Mark Twain

Goodman

#545611 Wed, 23 Jul 08 09:34 PM

Cool Breeze
changeling

Fresh fruit are what makes this dessert figure-friendly

Sorry! I see problems with this sentence. Fresh Fruit - inferring a category is singular in nature. "are" is somewhat reluctant in my opinion.
Also, even assumming "are "is correct, then "makes" is disagreeing with the previous verb, "are".

Goodman

Verbs

Cool Breeze

#545617 Wed, 23 Jul 08 10:14 PM

Goodman

Also, even assumming "are "is correct, then "makes" is disagreeing with the previous verb, "are".

Of course it disagrees with are because it has nothing to do with it. The subject of makes is the relative pronoun what. According to most dictionaries, Webster's among them, fruit can be used as a collective plural. If are is wrong with it, what plural verb form of to be do you suggest?

Cool Breeze

Nouns, Plurals, Pronouns, Relative pronouns, Verbs

Goodman

#545625 Wed, 23 Jul 08 10:56 PM

I am not persuaded enough to use "fruit" as plural, I have nothing more to add.
Howevre, as I said in last post " Fresh Fruit - inferring a category is singular in nature in my view. "Are" is somewhat reluctant in my opinion.
I would either say" fresh fruits are important part of our balanced diet"
or, "fresh fruit" is an important of of our balanced diet". Sorry to differ!

Goodman

Plurals

nona the brit

#545628 Wed, 23 Jul 08 11:04 PM

'are' sounds odd to me

Cut out the 'fresh' and try it.

Would you really say 'fruit are what make this dessert...' or 'fruit is what makes this dessert'.

We are talking of a very specific group of fruit here, not just any old fruits, these are the fruit that are in this dessert. A single group of fruit.

nona the brit

Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004

England

Veteran Member (11,347)

The name says it all.

khoff

#545654 Thu, 24 Jul 08 02:11 AM

I would agree that "makes" should stay singular to correspond to "what," even if the subject of the sentence is plural. However, I think "fruit" is singular. I can't think of a context in which I would say "fruit are." Here are some sentences that are okay, in my opinion:

Fruit is what makes this dessert special.

Fruit makes this dessert very special.

Cherries are what makes this dessert special.

Cherries make this dessert very special.

A single large grape is what makes this dessert so very special.

A single humongous grape makes this dessert unforgettable.

Fruit is important for a balanced diet. OR Fruits are important for a balanced diet. (But I much prefer the singular.)