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kt_monster · Joined: 15 Aug 2006 Posts: 12 Location: uk

I have alway thought the plural of fish was fish. one fish two fish etc. However the english book I use say fishes, this just seems wrong to me. The people around me I have asked (all chinese) say fishes. Whos right me or the book?

sheeba · Joined: 17 Jun 2004 Posts: 1123

From the Oxford Dictionary - Fish is the usual plural form. The older form fishes can be used to refer to different kinds of fish but you are correct in telling your students we say ' there are plenty more fish in the sea' My idioms dictionary also uses 'fish'

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

Are you sure it's not being used as a verb?

He fishes for trout every evening.

or

She fishes for a compliment, but rarely gets one.

Something like that?

kt_monster · Joined: 15 Aug 2006 Posts: 12 Location: uk

Thanks for the replys, I thought I was right.
No it is not being used as a verb it is "He eats the fishes" type sentences.

The_Prodiigy · Joined: 01 Apr 2006 Posts: 252

Both are acceptable.

FISH is the more common.

Craig! · Joined: 23 Jan 2005 Posts: 202

''One Fish, Two Fish, Green Fish, Blue Fish'' is one interactive computer game in www.seussville.com > playground. Check it out.
''Sam-I-Am'' is better for building sentences.
I generally don't like to use computer games in class, but now and then, I have to ''throw 'em a bone.''

latefordinner · Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 973

I'll agree with the_prod, both are acceptable. I remember as a kid learning the story of "The loaves and the fishes". (OK, I'm showing my age here a bit) I have to wonder though if fish is more common than fishes because it is less awkward, or if fishes seems more awkward simply because it is less common. Chickens and eggs, perhaps?

We had company over for dinner, now its time to head to the kitchen. Plenty of dish in the sink to wash. If I had 3 wish, I'd ask for more wish. Hugs and kish, all

jammish · Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 1704

No, fishes is definitely NOT acceptable as the plural of the noun 'fish' unless you are gollum.

Shocked

KES · Joined: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 722

The Voice Of Reason · Joined: 29 Jun 2004 Posts: 492

Fish is both singular and plural within a species. One salmon is a fish, three salmons are 3 fish. Fishes is the plural when you have more than one species. One salmon is a fish, but one salmon and one flounder are 2 fishes.

I copied the above from http://www.englishforums.com/English/FishFishes/hbjm/Post.htm

Itsme · Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 624 Location: Houston, TX

orangiey · Joined: 30 Jan 2005 Posts: 217 Location: UK

A Xmas message for all you single folk over Xmas:

There's plenty more fish in the sea....or is it fishes???

Question

eslstudies · Joined: 17 Dec 2006 Posts: 1061 Location: East of Aden

The homies haven't cottoned onto collective nouns yet.
Don't lets spoil the fun. Clotheses indeed!

No Moss · Joined: 15 Apr 2003 Posts: 1995 Location: Thailand

When you're talking about the cooked stuff, it's an uncountable noun. When you're talking about about the live, swimming around creatures, they're countable. Fish is not a collective noun, since it follows the normal rules of a noun that refers to a single (fish) or multiple (fish). Its plural is fish.

I caught a fish, but my brother caught 10 fish.

When you're talking about varieties of fish, however, it's (vocally)reasonable to refer to them as "fishes", as in the many fishes of the Northern Atlantic, meaning something quite different from the many fish in the Northern Atlantic.

I'm not sure the King James Bible is a valid grammatical reference, having been written in 1611.

But, as Three Dog Night would have it, "Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea". Poetic license, I guess.

Vocally reasonable--The Voice of Reason--get it?