Learn English – Do you switch between things in plural

grammatical-number

I was just now watching a TV programme where a character said "I'm concerned when we switch brands of coffee".

Ignoring the choice of:

switch brands of coffee // switch coffee brands

Is it correct to say brands (pl.), because to me both the above and:

switch brand of coffee // switch coffee brand

sound fine, or at least, I do hear both. Which is "more correct"?

I can justify either: the sentence speaks of switching to a singular thing, but then it switches between plural things.

Best Answer

Whether you switch brands or change trains, the idiom is pretty clear:

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If the object changed is indeterminate, the plural is overwhelmingly preferred to the singular, by a factor of 25-40 to 1—doubtless because you are exchanging one brand/train for another.

In the rare case of a determinate object, however—if you change your train or they switch their brand—the plural vanishes and the singular rules.

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