Work in progress

[yeeway]

Do we also say "work in process" to mean "work in progress"?

[mykwyner]

Work in progress is an idiomatic phrase with a distinct meaning that almost all native English speakers understand.

Work in process might mean a process of working something in (work-in process). A native English speaker might think you misspoke progress.

Stay with the original.

[BobK]

Originally Posted by mykwyner

Work in progress is an idiomatic phrase with a distinct meaning that almost all native English speakers understand.
...

A tendency I've started noticing very recently is the use of 'work in progress' as countable: This is very much a work in progress. I don't think this is standard yet.

b

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by BobK

A tendency I've started noticing very recently is the use of 'work in progress' as countable: This is very much a work in progress. I don't think this is standard yet.

b

It is standard in AmE. This use of "work" is countable. Its use is similar to the "works" of Shakespeare.

[BobK]

Originally Posted by MikeNewYork

It is standard in AmE. This use of "work" is countable. Its use is similar to the "works" of Shakespeare.

Yes. I didn't make myself clear. I didn't mean that a countable usage of work was non-standard; we too say 'the works of Shakespeare'.

What I meant was that the phrase 'work in progress' used to be uncountable in BE, and it's becoming countable. When I gave a talk based on a dissertation I was working on in 1975, my supervisor said 'present it as work in progress' - not 'a work in progress'.