Yes, it does.anitax said:Does this mean 'to begin with' / 'first of all'?
Thanks
A.
No, it would be singular in the first context - "the starter is shrimp cocktail" "what did you have for a starter?" - unless this is just BE?angeluomo said:Unless you use it to refer to the first course of a meal. Then it actually means the food that is served at the beginning. For example:
"The starters this evening will be shrimp cocktail." Or, "We will be serving shrimp cocktail for starters this evening."
It can also mean "For beginners", to denote somebody who is just starting something.
In Australia, the plural can be used when referring to the first course of a meal. A waiter here will say, "For starters we have prawn (shrimp) cocktail, whitebait etc..."timpeac said:No, it would be singular in the first context - "the starter is shrimp cocktail" "what did you have for a starter?" - unless this is just BE?
"For starters" in the second example is fine.
I don't have a problem with "for starters" for one thing eg "for starters we have prawn cocktail" (but note that in your example you have slightly confused the issue by having several - prawn, whitebait etc - so even if it were singular you would use the plural here).Charles Costante said:In Australia, the plural can be used when referring to the first course of a meal. A waiter here will say, "For starters we have prawn (shrimp) cocktail, whitebait etc..."
Starters can also be what are used to start the whole cheese process.
Yes, generally there is more than one starter so you would use the plural form but if there was just one on the menu, a waiter could say, "As a starter we have prawn cocktail, for mains we have............". I think tho', that the plural could be used even where there is only one, because it not a usual occurrence. A waiter could say, "We have had problems with delivery today, so we have a limited menu. For starters we have just the prawn cocktail, for main course........"timpeac said:I don't have a problem with "for starters" for one thing eg "for starters we have prawn cocktail" (but note that in your example you have slightly confused the issue by having several - prawn, whitebait etc - so even if it were singular you would use the plural here).
It was just Angeluomo's first example that sounds strange to me. In relation to just one thing, would you say "the starters this evening are prawn cocktail"? That sounds very strange to me (and wouldn't sound better with "is" instead of "are" either).
charles said:A waiter could say, "We have had problems with delivery today, so we have a limited menu. For starters we have just the prawn cocktail, for main course........"
I do not find those sentences strange, you are preaching to the converted!!angeluomo said:I had Malabar Squid for starters, Kerala
Chicken Curry and Rice for mains.