on installment plan vs on the installment plan

[ostap77]

Do I buy a car on installment plan, on the installment plan or installment payments?

 

[Rover_KE]

I bought a car on instalments (BE spelling).

I bought a car on an instalment plan.

Rover

 

[ostap77]

What about this " And I sat there, and, you know, I knew I was dying, you know, I knew was doing life in prison on installment plan, so... I'd really wanted to be clean and sober, I just didn't know how."? It's used here without an article.

 

[bhaisahab]

What about this " And I sat there, and, you know, I knew I was dying, you know, I knew was doing life in prison on installment plan, so... I'd really wanted to be clean and sober, I just didn't know how."? It's used here without an article.

Where did you find that text?

 

[ostap77]

On the Corpus of Contemporary American English.

 

[bhaisahab]

On the Corpus of Contemporary American English.

It's incorrect usage. "I knew I was doing life in prison on installment plan" makes no sense. Even if you put an article before "installment" it wouldn't make sense.

 

[ostap77]

Actually my question was if I could use it without an article. Could I?

 

[bhaisahab]

Actually my question was if I could use it without an article. Could I?

No. Not if you want to use correct English.

 

[ostap77]

Could I just say on installment?

 

[Rover_KE]

I answered both your questions in post #2.

 

[SoothingDave]

It's incorrect usage. "I knew I was doing life in prison on installment plan" makes no sense. Even if you put an article before "installment" it wouldn't make sense.

I do think the author is being poetic. He is paying for his crime month-by-month (in prison), just like with an installment plan.

 

[ostap77]

My webster online dictionary says we can use "on installment". Where do you stand on this one?

 

[5jj]

Where do you stand on this one?

With Rover (post #2).

 

[ostap77]

All I'm asking is a clear answer. Am I submitting a visa application form to the GB Embassy to Ukraine?

 

[5jj]

All I'm asking is a clear answer. Am I submitting a visa application form to the GB Embassy to Ukraine?

With that sort of attitude to people who have given up their free time to answer hundreds of your questions, you risk not getting any more answers at all.