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Zuotengdazuo Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

Large animals? Please check the sentences in bold type.

I was told that if we are talking about a large animal, we often use its singular form as an uncountable noun. (as in My favorite animal is mammoth. Or My favorite animals are mammoth.)

Could you please tell me whether this grammar rule or the the likes of it exist?

And here are my doubts:which of the following sentences are correct? Since the name of a large animal used in singular form can be treated as mass noun, which is plural:
Mammoth is my favorite animal.
Mammoth are my favorite animal.
Mammoth is my favorite animals.
Mammoth are my favorite animals.

Thank you in advance.
  

Top answer

zuotengdazuo Could you please tell me whether this grammar rule or the the likes of it exist? There's no such rule. These are correct: The mammoth is my favourite animal.

— Cool Breeze

  • zuotengdazuo Could you please tell me whether this grammar rule or the the likes of it exist?
  • There's no such rule.
  • These are correct: The mammoth is my favourite animal.
  • Mammoths are my favourite animals.
  • CB
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12 Answers
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zuotengdazuoCould you please tell me whether this grammar rule or the the likes of it exist?
There's no such rule. These are correct:

The mammoth is my favourite animal.
Mammoths are my favourite animals.

CB
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OK. I see.
Cool Breeze These are correct:The mammoth is my favourite animal.
It seems this sentence implies you like a specific mammoth the best, among many other mammoth you like.

I think the following sentences are also correct.
My favorite animals are mammoths.
Mammoths are my favorite animal.(no "-s")
Right?
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zuotengdazuoIt seems this sentence implies you like a specific mammoth the best, among many other mammoth you like.
No, it doesn't. As to your two suggestions, the first is grammatical but I wouldn't use it just to mention what my favourite animal is.

CB
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Cool Breeze No, it doesn't.
Sorry, with due respect, I'd say I disagree with you.
When analyzing the following sentence, another native speaker told me that:

The cat is my favorite pet. (This means that you have 2 or more pets - but a specific cat is your favorite)
Similarly, when you say "the mammoth is my favorite animal
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zuotengdazuoI'd say I disagree with you.
You can do that, of course. If you have some animals at home, you may of course refer to one of them by saying the cat is my favourite animal. In this case you indeed refer to a specific animal.

However, in English grammar the definite article can be used to refer to all animals of a
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Thank you for your explanation. I didn't know that before.
Cool Breeze However, in English grammar the definite article can be used to refer to all animals of a particular type or kind
By the way, does this rule apply to other words such as vegetable, fruit, fish, insect, food, bird, etc?
For example:
The apple is my favorite fruit.=Apples are my favorit
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zuotengdazuodoes this rule apply to other words such as vegetable, fruit, fish, insect, food, bird, etc?
Yes.
zuotengdazuoThe peas are
Don't use the plural (peas) with the.

CB
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Cool Breeze zuotengdazuodoes this rule apply to other words such as vegetable, fruit, fish, insect, food, bird, etc?Yes.zuotengdazuoThe peas areDon't use the plural (peas) with the. CB
Thank you. I see. So I can only use "the" before the name of (vegetable, fish, etc) in singular form(not plural form) to refer to all animals
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zuotengdazuoSo can I say "The pea is my favorite vegetable."? It is weird to my ears.
There's nothing I can do about that. You'll just have to improve your ears!
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All right. So you mean it is a correct sentence and it is not weird to a native speaker's ears?
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