Hi
This was one of the posts that we sacrifised on the hacker. I asked if I ever had to say in general that “(The) egg does not suit me.”, why it should be without an article. Alan advised to use “Egg does not suit me.” without an article. My last question was that (which never saw the light of day) when we say “The apple is a good fruit.” or “The lion is a ferocious animal.”, why cannot we say, “The egg does not suit me.”?
Tom
The definite article ‘the’ isn’t normally used before names of meals. I seem to recall that, in his lost post, Alan suggested the expression ‘egg doesn’t agree with me’, which, I’d like to add, would be a more usual way of saying this.
Thank you, Conchita
So am I to understand that the all the following are correct?
Tom
Hi Tom
I don’t think those sentences are the most natural ones you’ve ever come up with. Do I assume correctly that you simply want to indicate that you dislike eating these foods at times?
If so, a sentence like this would be much more natural:
I don’t like eating eggs/potatoes/apples in winter/at night.
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No Amy, that’s not what I mean. There are things that don’t suit certain people. For example, an egg may cause some person allergy. Some people become constipated having eaten a banana. So, in that situation:
Now do you find them OK?
Tom
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I’d use the plural form and ‘agree with’:
Eggs/potatoes/apples don’t agree with me.
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I presume that we are not discussing anything but the subject-- Egg vs Eggs vs The egg vs The eggs. I could come up with sentences for each of them, but I could hardly improve upon Alan’s and Conchita’s and Yankee’s sentences, which cover just about every normal, expected use, I think.
As for the apple and the egg–
The apple is a delicious fruit. – OK
The egg is high in protein.– OK
(X) The apple agrees with me.
(X) The egg disagrees with me.
Very odd-- I have no idea on this one.
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