sport/sports

Hello teachers!
My son had this question in a class test.

Put in a, an, the or nothing in the blank space:

We're not interested in ........ sport.

Considering that 'any' was not one of the choices offered, he put in 'a' but the teacher said there should be nothing.

According to me it should be 'We're not interested in sports.' or 'We're not interested in any sport.'

What do you think?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by queenbu

Hello teachers!
My son had this question in a class test.

Put in a, an, the or nothing in the blank space:

We're not interested in ........ sport.

Considering that 'any' was not one of the choices offered, he put in 'a' but the teacher said there should be nothing.

According to me it should be 'We're not interested in sports.' or 'We're not interested in any sport.'

What do you think?

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In this case, sport, wich is an uncountable noun here, means activities done for a particular reason, needing physical effort or skill to achieve results; it's a general usage. ;-)
In American English, however, it's sports. :roll:

Hello engee,
your reply made me take a closer look at the dictionary and maybe you should say 'We're not interested in sport.' after all.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by queenbu

Hello engee,
your reply made me take a closer look at the dictionary and maybe you should say 'We're not interested in sport.' after all.

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:up:

But please consider the following situation:

[while watching TV]
A: It's about to start! Come on guys, get the food ready at last!
B: Mike, what are you so eager to watch?
A: Football match, of course!
B: Oh, I'm afraid I'm not interested in a sport (= a particular form of sport) of that sort, football to be precise...
;-)

Yes, I think actually both answers were acceptable.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by queenbu

Yes, I think actually both answers were acceptable.

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If you say that both forms (...in sport... and ...in a sport...) were acceptable in the sentence I provided, then you're still wrong, I'm afraid. :-(
The difference between the two largely lies in the meaning:

sport [uncount noun] = sports in general
a sport [countable noun] = a particular form of sports activity
:roll:

No, I was referring to the question in my son's test.;-)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by queenbu

...
According to me it should be 'We're not interested in sports.' or 'We're not interested in any sport.'
...

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We're not interested in _ sport. [British English] :tick:
We're not interested in _ sports. [American English] :tick:
We're not interested in a sport. :cross:
We're not interested in the sport/s. :tick: (depending on the meaning; as far as the test in question is concerned, it's :cross:)
We're not interested in any sport/sports. :tick: or, in our case :cross:, since the meaning of the sentence is not the same as in We're not interested in sport/sports.
:roll:

Thanks.:-)