In reply to:

you wouldn't generally say "I eat sheep" ..
..because you can say "I eat mutton" - and also: "mutton was plentiful.."
Certainly the commodity aspect is more relevant here than the "uncountable" property.- But, Bingley, is this linguistics or something else?


Now, class , you remember what I was saying about some words being both countable and uncountable depending on the meaning? For example Beer (meaning the beverage or shampoo (according to taste -- can't stand the stuff myself, even the smell of it makes me feel ill)) and Beer/Beers (meaning types thereof). If we are referring to the animal (fish, chicken, rabbit, etc.) the word is countable, if we are referring to the meat we get from the animal the word is uncountable. So we can say "Fish is expensive" meaning the meat, or "Fish are expensive" meaning the cyclists given away as prizes at funfairs. As a separate issue, in some words the singular and plural forms are the same. So we "Six sheep were grazing in the field", or "Six fish were cycling by".

Bingley



Bingley