[Grammar] A Standard Procedure

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EricaWW

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a) "It is a standard procedure to handcuff suspects."
b) "It is standard procedure to handcuff suspects."

"Procedure" is both countable and uncountable. Could one of the above be better than the other?
 
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It is standard procedure.
 
riquecohen

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EricaWW said:
a) "It is a standard procedure to handcuff suspects."
b) "It is standard procedure to handcuff suspects."

"Procedure" is both countable and uncountable. Could one of the above be better than the other?
Click to expand...
We hear b more often than a.
 
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EricaWW

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Does it mean:

"It is a standard procedure to handcuff suspects."

is possible and acceptable since putting handcuffs on a suspect could be read as a single unit of activity?
 
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Rover_KE

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Riquecohen has answered your question already.

(a) is understandable; (b) is idiomatic.

Rover
 
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EricaWW

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Merriam-Webster Dictionary

aa) "The SWAT team followed standard procedure by moving very deliberately."
bb) "The SWAT team followed standard procedures by moving very deliberately."

Are aa) and bb) the same?
 
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EricaWW

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In post #6, the countable and uncountable versions are the same; but in post #1, they are not.
 
bhaisahab

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EricaWW said:
In post #6, the countable and uncountable versions are the same; but in post #1, they are not.
Click to expand...
It's not a question of countable or uncountable, it's a question of what is idiomatic and what is not, as I think you know very well.
 
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