[Idiom] RECEIVE PAYMENT

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"Mr Suwondo, and the others who had received payment, were eventually tracked down."

I found the sentence from some "The Economist" article. Should "a" be added between "received" and "payment"?
 

SoothingDave

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what about "make payment"?
 

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No. One makes a payment. One has made a payment. Or "One has made payments."
 
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so i must "make a payment", but could either "receive payment" or "receive a payment"? so "make" is not as flexible as "receive"?
 

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I don't think it's a question of the "flexibility" of the verbs. It's the "receive payment" is idiomatic, while "make payment" is not.
 
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Then according to your theory, "delay payment" and "withhold payment" are just as idiomatic as "receive payment"? What about "miss payment"?
 

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I could see "miss payment" in some circumstances.
 
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it looks like i will never learn good english
 

SoothingDave

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The use of articles is one of the most difficult things to learn.
 

Rover_KE

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It looks like I will never learn good English.

Make sure you write grammatically at all times.

Rover
 

5jj

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Jack London was an revered American writer. His writings are at the level of deities.
 

5jj

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In my last post I suggested: note who is speaking the words. The character in London's story is not a native speaker of English. His English is not perfect.
 
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OK. I got it. Thanks.
 
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