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liquor or liquors?

hirashin

Sempai
Donor
8 Apr 2004
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Dear native English speakers,
I have a question about single or plural.
Which sentence(s) would sound correct?
(1a) That store sells a lot of liquor.
(1b) That store sells a lot of liquors.
(1c) That store sells many kinds of liquor.
(1d) That store sells many kinds of liquors.

Can you say the same thing about coffee?
(2a) That store sells a lot of coffee.
(2b) That store sells a lot of coffees.
(2c) That store sells many kinds of coffee.
(2d) That store sells many kinds of coffees.

Thanks in advance.

Hirashin
 
I use liquor as both singular and plural, I can't think of an example where "liquors" sounds right. Coffee is mostly the same (so 2a and 2c sound correct), although if you were to order multiple cups of coffee you might hear the server say "...and three coffees," so maybe it can be pluralized as shorthand for "units of coffee"
 
Here's a list on a random website of stuff with only a singular form, but it's debatable.

List of Words Without Plural Form (Uncountable Nouns) | MyEnglishTeacher.eu Forum | MyEnglishTeacher.eu Forum

One word not on this list is fish.

I'm sure people hear the word "fishes" often. For example "Tuna and salmon are both fishes" or "The sushi chef is preparing many fishes" It sounds very natural but according to some English teachers they're adamant that fish only has a singular form.

"It's not fishes it's fish and stop eating so much god damn raw fish"
 
Habaek, this problem is not easy as you might think.
Note that Nice gaijin said, " I use liquor as both singular and plural".

Liquor is usually an "uncountable noun", but even an uncountable noun can be used as a countable noun depending on the context. That's why I asked about it here.

To my knowledge, people say
(a) Can I get you a coffee?
(b) Could I have two coffees? (from Practical English Usage by Michael Swan)
(c) The 1961 wines were among the best this century. (ditto)

"Apple" is usually a countable noun, but you can use it as uncountable.
(d) Let's put some apple in the curry.

You usually use love without any particles such as a or the. But you can use 'a love".

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. And then, one not-so-very special day, I went to my typewriter, I sat down, and I wrote our story. A story about a time, a story about a place, a story about the people. But above all things, a story about love. A love that will live forever. (from Moulin Rouge!)
 
"Liquors" as well as the singular version of "liquor" to me refers to types of liquor. E.g.: "Our store sells over two dozen liquors." "Liquor" as a mass noun, on the other hand, refers to the liquid itself.

"Coffee" (singular) and "coffees" are words I would only use to describe something a restaurant sells in a sized container, e.g. Starbucks. But I wouldn't consider it to be particularly out of place if someone were to use them to refer to cups of coffee.

Of course, I can't speak for anyone else, but that's how I interpret it.
 
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