1

When there are two or more carps, you can say “there are fish”, treating singular form of fish without plural suffix “s” as a plural, but I think normally it doesn’t apply to other nouns, is that correct? And is there linguistic category for words like this?

Kmd
  • 19
  • If you're going to answer, include this stuff, too: > "Scientists say alarming declines at the southern end of the fishes' range may be a sign of what's to come as waters warm farther north." (NYT) https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/03/climate/salmon-fishery-closed-california.html – Conrado Jun 09 '23 at 14:45
  • See also the question about types of fish – Laurel Jun 09 '23 at 14:49
  • 2
    There's a bunch of mostly animal nouns with zero plurals: sheep, salmon, fish, halibut, deer, squid, elk, moose, etc. Some are herded, some are hunted, and there's lots of exceptions, too. It's just another bunch of irregular nouns. There are plenty of others. – John Lawler Jun 09 '23 at 14:53
  • Actually, "two carp" is more common than "two carps". Therre is a related question about fish and other animal plurals at: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/427805/why-a-stream-full-of-trout-but-not-a-stream-full-of-newt – Shoe Jun 09 '23 at 14:55
  • See answers on invariant plurals (especially for animals) at Why is the plural of 'deer' the same as the singular? – Edwin Ashworth Jun 09 '23 at 15:30

0 Answers0