Example:
Pico de gallo:
onion, tomato, and cilantro
or
onions, tomatoes, and cilantro
when one or less onion and one or less tomato has been chopped for use in the recipe.
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1What research did you do before asking here? Did you try, for instance, looking up Pico de Gallo recipes anywhere and see how they list their ingredients?– JimCommented Oct 4, 2014 at 21:14
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1'Onion' is used both as a count and a mass noun. 'Three chopped onions' but 'I hate chopped onion before it's cooked'. Here, either 'half a chopped onion' or 'the chopped onion' may be used.– Edwin AshworthCommented Oct 4, 2014 at 21:16
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related American 'cup' measurement — for cheese– Mari-Lou ACommented Oct 4, 2014 at 23:50
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I don't trust a source whose expertise lies outside English language and usage to determine anything about just that--English language and usage--especially a source as far away from that expertise as most recipe sites are sure to be : P– LaBarristerCommented Oct 5, 2014 at 1:23
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1 Answer
That isn't an easy question to answer without more context. Either is fine in the very contextually free manner you have specified. But it very much depends on the nature of the sentence. For example:
Add half a chopped onion and stir.
Is correct, since you are talking about one onion which has been chopped, and then adding half of the result.
Add a half onion, chopped, and stir.
Is also correct, since you are adding one of the thing, the thing being a half onion.
Add 0.5 onions, chopped, and stir.
Here we are using a numeric unit of a mass quantity -- onion -- and so we need a plural, since 0.5 is not "one". However, that is a kind of odd thing to say.
Add 2 pounds of chopped onions and stir.
This is fine just fine, however, this:
Add 2 pounds of chopped onion and stir.
Is also fine. In the first case you are using onions as discrete things, and so since you chopped a bunch of them to get to 2 pounds, you need a plural. However, in the second case you are using onion as a mass quantity, that is to say, you are not talking about individual onions, but onion material, then you can use a singular.
Which is a long roundabout way of saying "it depends."
answered Oct 4, 2014 at 21:22
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I would rather see a half-onion hyphenated, as with any half-compound. But you could also use half an onion: many of us do.– tchrist ♦Commented Oct 4, 2014 at 22:34
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Is it true that anything outside of, even if less than, "one" is plural? Interesting. Commented Oct 5, 2014 at 1:25
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Anyway, you answered my question well, especially as it was summed up in your second-to-last paragraph. Thank you very much for your prompt, thoughtful, and clear answer. Commented Oct 5, 2014 at 1:26