It should not be necessary for the diner to distinguish between types of forks; forks are used in order from outside to inside, with the exception of oyster forks, which are placed on the right side, the tines nested in the bowl of a spoon.
12.
On the left, from the outside in, are the fish fork, the meat fork and a salad fork ( or fruit fork ) . ( If both a salad and a fruit course are served, the necessary extra flatware must be brought out on a platter, as it is bad form to have more than three knives or forks on the table at once, the oyster fork excepted .)
