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View Full Version : When talking about different species of trout, do we say trout or trouts?


DaisyMiller
Mar 3, 2007, 11:18 AM
Hello good folks,

Some instinct tells me that some nouns, whose plural is the same as singular, sometimes do take an s when we are talking about different kinds of that thing. I'ts hard for me to explain, so here are some examples.

We would say -
There is one brown trout in the bucket.
There are two brown trout in the bucket.

When there are different kinds of trout in the stream, would we say it this way? -
There are brown trout and rainbow trout in the stream.
There are trouts in the stream.

This is probably an esoteric point of English grammar, because I haven't been able to find it addressed anywhere. Maybe my imagination is running away with me. Please let me know what you can find.

Susan

J_9
Mar 3, 2007, 11:21 AM
Trout is correct whether using the singular form or the plural. The word trouts is incorrect in any form.

grammadidi
Mar 3, 2007, 11:27 AM
Heh heh, you answered your own question when you wrote: "When there are different kinds of trout in the stream, ... ".

Didi

J_9
Mar 3, 2007, 11:28 AM
Great catch Didi, I didn't even see that:p