Yes.
Now I feel that Kisco had thought out so fascinating a question involving so many aspects!
BTW, still a couple of things need to be clarified: what is the plural form of fruit? Is it possible being a collective noun like family?
Haihao,
‘Fruit’ is just like ‘Fish’. Unless we talk about more than one kind of fruit, we should use ‘fruit’.
So we say, ‘My favourite fruits are apples and oranges.’
‘Apples are my favourite fruit’.
‘The fruit (not ‘fruits’) of the tree are popular throughout Australia.’
Now, We can say
1.My favourite animal is the lion
2.My favourite animals are lions.
In both cases we have concord between the subject and the verb.
That’s why I said ‘My favourite fruit are apples’ is correct as it follows the pattern of the second sentence. Here the subject of the sentence is plural. So is the verb. - Arguable.
The better alternative is to consider ‘Apples are my favourite fruit’.
Thank you very much, Bala. Actually I have also found, through and by virtue of this discussion, that fruit could be used collectively, as you said, and the plural form is both fruit and fruits according to AHD, to my surprise.
Anyway, now it’s as clear as a bell to me!
In my opinion, the choice “My favourite fruit is an apple” is correct. Because when we say something in general and in a singular form we use the article AN respectively. “Fruit” is an uncountable noun as we use it in singular form. So we can get this choice as a correct one.
I am still curious about this one (an apple).
It seems to me that the subjective ‘An apple’ can be, without doubt, generic such as ‘An apple is an ancient fruit’. Yet “My favourite fruit is an apple” puts it in the complementary position. Does it still act perfectly as a generic NP?
Hi Haihao,
I prefer ‘My favourite fruit is the apple’. It puts the apple on a pedestal and shows that it is singled out as the favourite.
Alan
Hi Alan,
Thank you very much again. “It puts the apple on a pedestal” puts me on the pedestal at last!
Best regards,
Haihao
So, what’s the conclusion?
The conclusion is that the following are correct:
My favorite fruit is the apple.
My favorite fruit is an apple.
My favorite fruit is apples.
My favorite fruit are apples.
I prefer the first option. It seems more natural.
I agree 100%. At the same time, I have come to see the question has its correct answer ‘out of the question’, and come to feel this aboratively designed question is kind of an ‘English math’ rather than of the language. Thanks to the discussion, I’d suggest if,
[i]f/i = Fruit {apple(s), banana(s), orange(s), …},
then the following answers are virtually equivalent to each other in the mathematical sense:
My favorite fruit is the apple. (the best in terms of linguistics but excluded therefrom)
My favorite fruit is the apples.
My favorite fruit are the apples.
My favorite fruit is an apple.
My favorite fruit is apples.
My favorite fruit are apples.
My favorite fruit is apple.
My favorite fruit is apples.
My favorite fruit are apples.
I don’t know what to say, but thanks for everybody here. I know which ones are the correct sentences now.
But which one do the native speakers always use?
Hi Kisco,
Personally I would use either: My favourite fruit is the apple or My favourite fruit is apple.
Alan
Alan,My favourite fruit is the apple and …?Both the sentences are same.
Hi Sajumon,
Thanks for that. I have now changed it.
Alan
Alan,
One last doubt, can you please explain how the sentence without the article is possible, I meant the second one, you have suggested?
Hi,
In that sense ‘apple’ is regarded as fruit in general rather than one particular example of a fruit.
Alan
Scratch.