grammatical number - Is using "fruits" as the plural of "fruit" acceptable?


I've always understood the plural of fruit to be fruit, not fruits.


I was looking at some marketing material and they used the word "fruits" in the following context:



A unique infusion made with ... strawberry, raspberry and cranberry fruits



In discussion with someone about this sentence, he described that the plural of person is not necessarily always people, and could be persons. Therefore it's possible that fruits could be a legitimate plural form.


Is fruits used correctly in this context, or could it be used correctly in ANY context?



Answer



Fruit can be used as an uncountable noun or a countable noun in which case the plural form would be fruits. In the example sentence, both usages are acceptable.


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