0
  • What kind/kinds of food and drinks can I have in China?
  • My favorite food is egg/the egg?

For the 2 sentences above, which words would you choose?

3
  • I've cut down to one question, the second question seemed unrelated.
    – James K
    Jan 5, 2019 at 23:07
  • In fact, I’d like to ask 2 questions.😅 Jan 5, 2019 at 23:51
  • Please ask two questions. But ask two separate questions. Take a look at the tour and help center to see how to ask good questions.
    – James K
    Jan 5, 2019 at 23:52

1 Answer 1

1

Your alternatives are correct, they just mean different things

"Kinds of food" asks for multiple kinds. "Kind of food" asks of one "kind". You would probably ask "What kind of food" since you are only really looking for an example, not a long list of many kinds of food in China.

Saying "kind of food and drinks" would be understood as "kind of food and kind of drinks".

It's not a very useful question, given how large China is. And its not clear what is a "kind of food".

Similarly the word "the" carries meaning. "The egg" refers to a particular egg or egg based food that both the speaker and hearer can identify:

I tried egg noodles and rice noodles. My favourite was the egg.

But normally you are talking about egg in general, and here it is being used to mean the uncountable food type. You could also use a plural

He likes chicken, but my favourite food is egg. I love eggs!

Both "egg" and "the egg" are rather unusual in this context, since "egg" is a rather plain food, it is not often a favourite.

2
  • Is it “kind of food and drinks” or just “kind of food” plus “ and drinks”? Jan 5, 2019 at 23:48
  • +1 for the plural here.
    – TimR
    Jan 6, 2019 at 14:53

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .