Quizzes & Puzzles5 mins ago
drink/drinks stall
7 Answers
Is a stall selling drinks a 'drink stall' or 'drinks stall'?
Thanks.
Thanks.
Answers
drinks - you're selling more than one drink
21:31 Tue 02nd Aug 2011
no special reason; logic isn't everything in language (particularly the English language). If you wanted to open such a shop and call it The Drink Shop, nobody would tell you you were wrong; and you could call it a drink stall if you wanted.
But I think that's a rather less common form. I suspect 'stall' and 'shop' work in slightly different ways, though I have no idea why. If you were working at a church fete, for instance, you could well have a shoes stall and a dresses stall; in the high street it'd be more likely to be a shoe shop and a dress shop.
But I think that's a rather less common form. I suspect 'stall' and 'shop' work in slightly different ways, though I have no idea why. If you were working at a church fete, for instance, you could well have a shoes stall and a dresses stall; in the high street it'd be more likely to be a shoe shop and a dress shop.
I would certainly say drinks stall. However, the use of singular or plural forms is fraught with anomalies. For example, a pair of trousers is...or are (and there you go!)...clearly a single garment and, within the tailoring trade itself, it would not be unknown for someone to refer to "a trouser".
As J suggests above, it is probably best just to go with the version that sounds 'right' to YOU. English does not have the equivalent of the Académie Française, which lays down the law on what is correct. Mind you, the French just ignore the experts when it suits them!
As J suggests above, it is probably best just to go with the version that sounds 'right' to YOU. English does not have the equivalent of the Académie Française, which lays down the law on what is correct. Mind you, the French just ignore the experts when it suits them!