Steven Zhu
Member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2010
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- China
- Current Location
- China
Dear sirs:
The following sentence, abstracted from a textbook of English published in China, was used by the author as an example for error correction.
When the case was closed the lawyer decided to take an off day and went to zoo with his little boy.
The author stated that the phrase "an off day " in the sentence is not right, and it shall be changed into "a day off". But information in the Internet shows that the phrase "an off day " are extensively used by native English speakers. So, my question is: Is the phrase "an off day " acceptable.
In the sentence, we can find that the author used a phrase "went to zoo". As we know, a singular countable noun shall be used in a sentence with an article. Of course, a singular countable noun can be used with zero article, such as go to bed, go to school, and go to hospital etc. But I have never seen such a phrase as "go to zoo". So, my question is: Is the phrase "go to zoo" acceptable?
The usage of zero article is a big problem for our non-native English learners, though I have spent a lot of time to try to command the uses, I don't know how to use zero article properly, because systematical description about it is not available.
Looking forward to your replies.
The following sentence, abstracted from a textbook of English published in China, was used by the author as an example for error correction.
When the case was closed the lawyer decided to take an off day and went to zoo with his little boy.
The author stated that the phrase "an off day " in the sentence is not right, and it shall be changed into "a day off". But information in the Internet shows that the phrase "an off day " are extensively used by native English speakers. So, my question is: Is the phrase "an off day " acceptable.
In the sentence, we can find that the author used a phrase "went to zoo". As we know, a singular countable noun shall be used in a sentence with an article. Of course, a singular countable noun can be used with zero article, such as go to bed, go to school, and go to hospital etc. But I have never seen such a phrase as "go to zoo". So, my question is: Is the phrase "go to zoo" acceptable?
The usage of zero article is a big problem for our non-native English learners, though I have spent a lot of time to try to command the uses, I don't know how to use zero article properly, because systematical description about it is not available.
Looking forward to your replies.