Does "fruit" get singular or plural verb form?

Question

Which one is correct?

There are no low-hanging fruit.

Or

There is no low-hanging fruit.

Or are both correct? If both are correct, is one of them more preferable?

Somewhat related: Is using “fruits” as the plural of “fruit” acceptable? The word "fruit" is used in a number of different ways. — herisson, Aug 06 '18 at 18:42
What makes you think that doesn't better belong to English Language Learners, please?
Either way, please recognise various combinations of “fruit” or “fruits” could be acceptable, depending on the circumstances… which weren’t mentioned.

In your case please choose between “There are no low-hanging fruits” and “There is no low-hanging fruit”. — Robbie Goodwin, Aug 06 '18 at 19:46

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 07 '18 at 00:21

The plural of fruit can also be fruits (Merriam-Webster) when used in a countable way.

So, there are two sentence variations that would both be fine:

There are no low-hanging fruits.
There is no low-hanging fruit.

I suspect that most people would also not have a problem with the informal use of there are no low-hanging fruit.

Which you use is a matter of personal choice.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 15 '19 at 07:13

"There are no low-hanging fruits" implies different varieties of fruits. Eg, a mango, an orange, a pawpaw and an apple in the basket are fruits. "There are no low-hanging fruit" means more than fruit of the same kind. Eg, Mangoes in the basket are fruit. "There is no low-hanging fruit" means one fruit of the same kind. Eg, a mango in the basket is the fruit. So, they are all correct to use depending on the circumstances.

Does "fruit" get singular or plural verb form?

2 Answers2