Pluralization with uncountable/countable nouns in complex sentences

[Scott]

Which of the following grammatically correct? Why or why?

1-- People with a penchant for exciting fiction with a well-crafted plot will love this novel.

2-- People with a penchant for exciting fiction with well-crafted plots will love this novel.

3-- People with a penchant for exciting fictions with well-crafted plots will love this novel.


I'm not asking which sounds better or which you would use. I'm curious which ones if any are strictly grammatically incorrect.

I think it's confusing me because the word fiction can be both a countable noun and an uncountable noun. Similar to the word coffee. So we could look at these examples too:


1b-- Customers who love coffee with a spoon will love this restaurant.

2b-- Customers who love coffee with spoons will love this restaurant.

3b-- Customers who love coffees with spoons will love this restaurant.

[Alice Heritage]

I think all the examples are grammatically correct because the nouns can be countable or uncountable. I didn't initially know that fiction could be countable and used to think that "a fiction" was incorrect, but the dictionary confirms that it can be countable.

[Zora C Penter]

While all three are grammatically correct in both scenarios, the third does not sound correct to me for both.

[MsTri]

While all three are grammatically correct in both scenarios, the third does not sound correct to me for both.

I agree. Also, I don't think I've ever heard of "fiction" or "coffee" being pluralized as above, though I've certainly heard of fiction books/books of fiction and cups of coffee, with the other parts of the phrases being pluralized.

[EvaDar]

I think all the examples are grammatically correct because the nouns can be countable or uncountable. I didn't initially know that fiction could be countable and used to think that "a fiction" was incorrect, but the dictionary confirms that it can be countable.

I think all are correct except "exciting fictions." I have searched and searched and can't find any source that says "fictions" or "a fiction" are correct, as nouns, to describe fiction novels. I see it a lot. I think, in online definitions, when "fictions" is listed as plural of fiction, it is referring to untruths, not multiple fiction writings. "The fictions often spoken by politicians...."

"Gone With the Wind is a fiction that takes place in the South...." - Incorrect.
It sounds awkward, and I am thinking it is an error.
"Gone With the Wind is a fiction novel that takes place in the South...." - Correct.
It is a fiction novel (fiction as an adjective), but not a fiction. In other words, I don't think fiction can be used as a noun in this context, or a plural noun: fictions.

I would love to have a source for this, one way or another, so I am clearer about this in editing.

[Zora C Penter]

I think all the examples are grammatically correct because the nouns can be countable or uncountable. I didn't initially know that fiction could be countable and used to think that "a fiction" was incorrect, but the dictionary confirms that it can be countable.

I think all are correct except "exciting fictions." I have searched and searched and can't find any source that says "fictions" or "a fiction" are correct, as nouns, to describe fiction novels. I see it a lot. I think, in online definitions, when "fictions" is listed as plural of fiction, it is referring to untruths, not multiple fiction writings. "The fictions often spoken by politicians...."

"Gone With the Wind is a fiction that takes place in the South...." - Incorrect.
It sounds awkward, and I am thinking it is an error.
"Gone With the Wind is a fiction novel that takes place in the South...." - Correct.
It is a fiction novel (fiction as an adjective), but not a fiction. In other words, I don't think fiction can be used as a noun in this context, or a plural noun: fictions.

I would love to have a source for this, one way or another, so I am clearer about this in editing.

Excellent point about fiction. I didn't realize that the only time I had heard the plural was in the same examples you gave.

[Espie]

Coffee and fiction could be uncountable and countable (depending on context or meaning) based on the following information sources:

• For coffee - https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/gramm ... able-nouns; and,
• For fiction - https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dicti ... sh/fiction and https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fiction.

For the plural form "fictions":

• The following link has some sentence examples: https://www.yourdictionary.com/fictions.
• I found hundreds of usage instances (including those pertaining to the genre's pieces) through the Corpus of Contemporary American English portal. In comparison, the use of "fiction" has thousands, of course. Type in a word on the following link for more details: https://corpus.byu.edu/coca/. (Thank you, @jgraney8 for the site.)

[EvaDar]

Coffee and fiction could be uncountable and countable (depending on context or meaning) based on the following information sources:

• For coffee - https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/gramm ... able-nouns; and,
• For fiction - https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dicti ... sh/fiction and https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fiction.

Thanks for this. It all depends on the meaning. It confirms that "a fiction" is used to describe an untruth, and is not a noun form of a work of fiction.

[Espie]

Coffee and fiction could be uncountable and countable (depending on context or meaning) based on the following information sources:

• For coffee - https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/gramm ... able-nouns; and,
• For fiction - https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dicti ... sh/fiction and https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fiction.

Thanks for this. It all depends on the meaning. It confirms that "a fiction" is used to describe an untruth, and is not a noun form of a work of fiction.

No worries.

I'm inclined to agree with you, too. Scott's sentence 3 may also pertain to "fictions" (and "plots") not merely with prescriptive writing terminology and definition in mind but also the more descriptive meaning and practical application of the word(s), i.e. untruths (and machinations). The sentence is not bereft of truth, especially if we're free to be creative in figuring out its context or if it's really meant to be written with a sarcastic tone.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar)

Thus, thank you as well.