do you like fruits ?

Tina   Sat May 05, 2007 8:22 pm GMT
How do you ask somone if they like fruit in general ?
Do you say : "do you like fruit" ? or "do you like fruits ?"
and if you use 'some', will you ask : "do you like some fruit ? "
or "do you like some fruits" ?
Many thanks,
Tina
Uriel   Sat May 05, 2007 8:26 pm GMT
In that instance, you can just use "Do you like fruit?" "Fruit" can be both singular and plural.

There are cases where you say "fruits", but that isn't one of them.
SpaceFlight   Sat May 05, 2007 9:31 pm GMT
"Apples and oranges are two different fruits" not *"apples and oranges are two different fruit".

This is an instance where you would say "fruits".
Franco   Sat May 05, 2007 10:33 pm GMT
No, I don't like gay people very much.
Guest   Sat May 05, 2007 10:46 pm GMT
Why don't you like gay people? Is there something inherently wrong about us?
Guest   Sat May 05, 2007 11:06 pm GMT
<Is there something inherently wrong about us? >

You guys are a serious threat to the survival of our beautiful planet, earth!
Guest   Sat May 05, 2007 11:47 pm GMT
Yeah, I love bananas
Gho   Sat May 05, 2007 11:55 pm GMT
I like fruit (food) but not fruits (gay people).
Ghi   Sun May 06, 2007 1:11 am GMT
I like fruits (gay people) but not fruit (food).
furrykef   Sun May 06, 2007 1:48 am GMT
I judge both fruit and fruits on their own individual merits, not on that they are fruit or fruits. :)

- Kef
Guest   Sun May 06, 2007 1:53 am GMT
<<You guys are a serious threat to the survival of our beautiful planet, earth!>>

The threat to our beautiful planet is overpopulation, environmental degradation, and nuclear annihilation. How do gay people threaten the earth when they aren't the ones breeding like rabbits?
Guest   Sun May 06, 2007 3:00 am GMT
Which "gay" are you talking about?
1. happy people
2. homosexuals
3. stupid people (aka ghey)
Tina   Sun May 06, 2007 5:39 am GMT
Thanks Uriel and SpaceFlight for your explanations.
I am an English as a second language teacher.
In fact, I was teaching "food" and the verb "like"to my primary students and I asked them this question : "do you like fruit ?" but they mostly answered by "I like fruits." and I corrected them like : "I like fruit."
Was I right to correct them ? was that a mistake they made ?
or is it OK to answer : "I like fruits.", when we are talking about fruit in general ?
I didnot know the "other" meaning for "fruits" and please discuss over it in a new post.
Thanks again,
Tina
Guest   Sun May 06, 2007 12:09 pm GMT
I like both
Jim   Sun May 06, 2007 2:35 pm GMT
The distinction is probably over the heads of most primary school ESL students. I'd say "Do you like fruit?" (yeah, unless it were homosexuals we were talking bout).