##“fruits” as uncountable noun with plural verb agreement The plural form “fruits” certainly exists. In its most traditional uses, it is not exactly “countable”, as it is used collectively or generally to refer to the products of something (either soil, or something more abstract). E.g., the Oxford English Dictionary gives the following quotations as examples for its first definition of “fruit”:

##“fruit” as uncountable noun with singular verb agreement The uncountable noun “fruit” (which takes singular verb agreement, like a mass noun) also exists. This is probably the most common use of the word “fruit”, so I won’t supply any examples.

##“fruit” as countified mass noun, with countable plural “fruits” or “fruit” Like nearly all mass nouns, this can be converted into a count noun “fruit” meaning “a type of fruit”, and this has a corresponding plural form meaning “types of fruit”. This plural form is often “fruits”, but I have found evidence that some people use “fruit” as a plural count noun. E.g.

• Many fruit from the genus Vaccinium are rich in phytonutrients, including those with potent antioxidant properties.

– “Blueberry and Cranberry”, by Charles F. Forney and Wilhelmina Kalt, in Health-promoting Properties of Fruits and Vegetables, edited by Leon Alexander Terry

##“fruit” as conventional count noun, with countable plural “fruits” or “fruit” I agree with Peter Shor that when dealing with countable objects like apples, oranges and peaches, the most natural expression seems to be “pieces of fruit” (singular: “piece of fruit”).

• However, there is a particular point at which a fruit reaches what is described as the 'mature green' stage. While the fruit is developing, the surface has a slightly wrinkled, matt appearance. At this stage it is still immature

– A Post Harvest Handling System for Sweet Peppers, Research Division: Ministry of Food Production and Marine Exploitation

• From one of these pips sprang the original apple, the present tree being a sucker which grew from the parent root. Though still green, it was very old and thin, and in 1901 had not borne a single fruit.

– Rural England, by H. Rider Haggard

• Fresh fruit is traditionally represented as the delicious offering of taste, and frequently a triangular formation of three round fruits will be depicted at the left or right side of the offering bowl.”

– The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols, by Robert Beer (p. 33)

Examples of plural countable “fruit” in the sense of “pieces of fruit”:

• The deep purple fruit has a waxy bloom, is round, and ranges in size from 0.6 to 1.2 cm in diameter and is borne in clusters of a few to many fruit.

– “Berberidaceae”, by Chad E. Finn, in The Encyclopedia of Fruit and Nuts, edited by Jules Janick and Robert E. Paull

• There should be a preparatory thinning at the time of stoning, and a final thinning afterwards, because most plants, especially such as have overborne themselves, drop many fruit at that crisis.

– Abercrombie, in The New American Gardener, by Thomas G. Fesseden (p. 241)

• For nondestructive evaluations, the same three fruit at each temperature were evaluated every second day; three additional fruit per storage temperature were removed every second day for destructive analyses.

– Something in the Proceedings of the ... Annual Meeting of the Florida State Horticultural Society, Volume 118 (sorry, Google Books only shows a snippet view and doesn’t show the full title)

“fruits” as uncountable noun with plural verb agreement

The plural form “fruits” certainly exists. In its most traditional uses, it is not exactly “countable”, as it is used collectively or generally to refer to the products of something (either soil, or something more abstract). E.g., the Oxford English Dictionary gives the following quotations as examples for its first definition of “fruit”:

“fruit” as uncountable noun with singular verb agreement

The uncountable noun “fruit” (which takes singular verb agreement, like a mass noun) also exists. This is probably the most common use of the word “fruit”, so I won’t supply any examples.

“fruit” as countified mass noun, with countable plural “fruits” or “fruit”

Like nearly all mass nouns, this can be converted into a count noun “fruit” meaning “a type of fruit”, and this has a corresponding plural form meaning “types of fruit”. This plural form is often “fruits”, but I have found evidence that some people use “fruit” as a plural count noun. E.g.

• Many fruit from the genus Vaccinium are rich in phytonutrients, including those with potent antioxidant properties.

  – “Blueberry and Cranberry”, by Charles F. Forney and Wilhelmina Kalt, in Health-promoting Properties of Fruits and Vegetables, edited by Leon Alexander Terry

“fruit” as conventional count noun, with countable plural “fruits” or “fruit”

I agree with Peter Shor that when dealing with countable objects like apples, oranges and peaches, the most natural expression seems to be “pieces of fruit” (singular: “piece of fruit”).

• However, there is a particular point at which a fruit reaches what is described as the 'mature green' stage. While the fruit is developing, the surface has a slightly wrinkled, matt appearance. At this stage it is still immature

  – A Post Harvest Handling System for Sweet Peppers, Research Division: Ministry of Food Production and Marine Exploitation

• From one of these pips sprang the original apple, the present tree being a sucker which grew from the parent root. Though still green, it was very old and thin, and in 1901 had not borne a single fruit.

  – Rural England, by H. Rider Haggard

• Fresh fruit is traditionally represented as the delicious offering of taste, and frequently a triangular formation of three round fruits will be depicted at the left or right side of the offering bowl.”

  – The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols, by Robert Beer (p. 33)

Examples of plural countable “fruit” in the sense of “pieces of fruit”:

• The deep purple fruit has a waxy bloom, is round, and ranges in size from 0.6 to 1.2 cm in diameter and is borne in clusters of a few to many fruit.

  – “Berberidaceae”, by Chad E. Finn, in The Encyclopedia of Fruit and Nuts, edited by Jules Janick and Robert E. Paull

• There should be a preparatory thinning at the time of stoning, and a final thinning afterwards, because most plants, especially such as have overborne themselves, drop many fruit at that crisis.

  – Abercrombie, in The New American Gardener, by Thomas G. Fesseden (p. 241)

• For nondestructive evaluations, the same three fruit at each temperature were evaluated every second day; three additional fruit per storage temperature were removed every second day for destructive analyses.

  – Something in the Proceedings of the ... Annual Meeting of the Florida State Horticultural Society, Volume 118 (sorry, Google Books only shows a snippet view and doesn’t show the full title)