Admission/Admittance

[Barman]

Which is grammatically correct and natural?

1) No admission without permission.

2) No admittance without permission.

 

[jutfrank]

Firstly, this has nothing to do with grammar. Secondly, it depends to some extent on use. I imagine it would be more appropriate to say:

No entry without permission

I assume you imagine this to be a sign on a door, or on a wall, outside a place. What exactly is the place that you're thinking of?

 

[Barman]

What exactly is the place that you're thinking of?

On a door.

 

[probus]

On an unattended door I'd expect admittance. I have no specific reason for that. It's just the usual and customary usage where I live.

 

[jutfrank]

On a door.

I meant to ask where the door leads to.

Anyway, I don't think admission is right, given the limited context you've provided. Admission is really about getting into somewhere where there is some kind of organised event going on, often requiring payment, and usually involving a person whose job is to control people going in. I assume that's not the case here.

Tell us where the door leads to.

 

[tedmc]

I think "admittance" is a bit too formal and old-fashioned.

I would make it simple and say:

Do not enter without permission.
Or
No unauthorised entry.

 

[GoesStation]

I think "admittance" is a bit too formal and old-fashioned.

It's neither. Signs reading NO ADMITTANCE WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION are common in the United States.

 

[tedmc]

It's neither. Signs reading NO ADMITTANCE WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION are common in the United States.

Are they also common in the UK? The word is not common where I am from. It is just a big word for "No Entry".

 

[probus]

Such signs are common in Canada too.

 

[Rover_KE]

Signs reading NO ADMITTANCE WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION are common in the United States.

Are they also common in the UK?

No.

We see AUTHORISED PERSONS ONLY/NO ENTRY/STAFF ONLY etc.

 

[Barman]

I meant to ask where the door leads to.

Tell us where the door leads to.

The door leads to the chief executive officer's cabin of an organization.

 

[Rover_KE]

In what sort of organisation does the CEO have a cabin?

 

[Barman]

In what sort of organisation does the CEO have a cabin?

It may be financial services organisation, i.e., 'bank', 'life insurance' etc.

 

[Rover_KE]

Then he/she is more likely to have an office.

 

[GoesStation]

Then he/she is more likely to have an office.

Unless the organization is based in a ship or a rustic resort.

 

[probus]

In what sort of organisation does the CEO have a cabin?

It's a feature of Indian (or subcontinental) English. The babus and peons, as they are called, collectively occupy the general office space, while the private offices of the big cheeses are called cabins.

 

[emsr2d2]

"Cabin" might well work in Indian English but bear in mind that it doesn't work in BrE, and I suspect it doesn't work in AmE or other variants. My dad used to work on a cross-Channel ferry and the room he worked in was referred to as an "office". A cabin is where you sleep on a ship.

 

[GoesStation]

"Cabin" might well work in Indian English but bear in mind that it doesn't work in BrE, and I suspect it doesn't work in AmE or other variants.

It doesn't in American English.

My dad used to work on a cross-Channel ferry and the room he worked in was referred to as an "office".

Did he get tired of all the back-and-forth at the office?

 

[Tdol]

In the UK, we have ROAR (Right of Admission Reserved) which allows places like restaurants and bars to refuse entry to people.

 

[GoesStation]

In my youth it was common to see signs like this in bars: THIS ESTABLISHMENT RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REFUSE ADMISSION TO ANYONE. It was a last gasp of American apartheid, where "anyone" meant Black people.