Is the word "corn flakes" a plural noun?

[Mary Tillio]

Dear Teachers!

My textbook says,
"How much corn flakes are there?"
"Not much."

on the other hand on the Internet I read,
"Corn flakekes are a food made ...."

Is that correct? My dictionaries say corn flakes is a plural noun. Then it's countable.

Mary Tillio

[Mister Micawber]

.
Aside from the fact that they are very difficult to count, 'cornflakes' or 'corn flakes' is also the name of a kind of breakfast food, so the usage gets a bit confused, leaving speakers some grammatical leeway. In your first example, the speaker has taken the middle way:

(?) How much cornflakes is left? -- The plural -s makes the singular verb sound a bit odd, even if the 'much' indicates an uncountable.
How much cornflakes are left?-- the middle road is the best choice, conceptually.
(?) How many cornflakes are left? -- Well, no one is about to count them, except maybe my dumb kid brother: '743 cornflakes are left!'

In your second example, one of the middle ways again is chosen, though both seem fine to me:

(X) Cornflake is a food.
Cornflakes is a food.
Cornflakes are a food.
(X) Cornflakes are foods.


Language is interesting, isn't it, Mary?
.
_________________
Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mr. Micawber

[Tom]

[Mister Micawber]

.
Can't think of one. It is early in the morning, though. How much branflakes are left? How much Cheerios are left?
.
_________________
Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mr. Micawber