It's time to answer questions for friends again (*? ω? ), meal usually refers to a meal, which is an uncountable noun, indicating the whole process of eating at a time, including staple food, side dishes, drinks and so on. Meals is the plural form of meat, which means the sum of multiple meals and can be used to represent all the meals in a day or a week. Here is a table summarizing their basic knowledge, which can be briefly understood first:

After understanding the basic knowledge of meal and meals, let's take a look at their specific differences ~ (@ _ @) ~

1. Difference in quantity

- meal usually refers to a meal, which is an uncountable noun, indicating the whole process of eating at one time, including staple food and meals.

- meals is the plural form of meals, which means the sum of multiple meals and can be used to represent all the meals in a day or a week.

Example:

-I had a delicious meal at the new restaurant downtown. )

-The hotel offers three meals a day for its guests. )

2. Differences in usage

- meal usually appears as a separate noun and can be used to modify other words, such as "breakfast meal" and "lunch meal".

- meals usually appears as a plural noun and can be used with other words, such as "meals plan" and "meals delivery".

Example:

-The restaurant serves a variety of meal options for breakfast. (This restaurant offers a variety of breakfast options. )

-The company provides meals delivery service for its employees. (The company provides catering delivery service for employees. )

3. Grammatical differences

- meal, as an uncountable noun, usually has no article, but it can be used with some quantifiers, such as "a bowl of meal" and "a plate of meal".

- meals, as a countable noun, usually has articles or quantifiers, such as "two meals a day" and "the meals of the week".

Example:

-She cooked a delicious meal for us. )

-We have three meals a day. (We usually eat three meals a day. )