'Add the onion and carrot to the pot'.
This instruction is one step in the method of the preparation of a dish; the ingredients will already have been specified in the first part of the recipe.
Presumably, one of each will have been mentioned, otherwise you would say 'Add the onions and carrots to the pot'.
Thank you everyone!
Thank you Rover_KE. Sorry, I want to make sure I understood what you meant.
You mean, if the number of vegetables are already mentioned in the beginning, I only need to say "the onion and the carrot" whether one each is used or three each are used...am I right?
It's a vegetable soup so the vegetables are cut into small pieces.
I have two more questions. If you could kindly answer them, I'd really appreciate it.
1. What should I say if only half a carrot and half an onion was to be used for the dish? Let's say I've already told my friend about that. Can I still say "
Then, add the onion and the carrot in the pot." ?
2. Can I treat the vegetables as uncountable since they are pieces, and say "
Then, add the onion and the carrot in the pot." or if I don't say them in the plural, does it always mean that the pieces are from one carrot and one onion?
Also, if you could answer my previous question, I'd really appreciate it too.
<<Also, if there are more than two vegetables, would you use "the" for all of them, or would you omit them after using it for the first noun? (You might think "I'll just say 'the vegetables' to mention them all," but this question is to understand the basic rules or a way native speakers speak, so if you could ignore the bulkiness, I'd appreciate it.)
e.g.: ""Then, add the onion, (the?) carrot, (the?) mushrooms, (the?) potatoes and (the?)carrot in the pot.">>
Thank you in advance.