[Grammar] Salary

[ShirleyLing]

"He was hired at reduced salary."

Do I need to put an "a" right before "reduced"?

 

[Mehrgan]

"He was hired at reduced salary."

Do I need to put an "a" right before "reduced"?

***not a teacher***

Hi. Yes, you do.

 

[ShirleyLing]

So "He was hired at reduced salary" is absolutely wrong?

 

[Rover_KE]

So "He was hired at reduced salary" is absolutely wrong?

The meaning is clear, so it's not absolutely wrong.

But it's not idiomatic. Your readers will think 'Oh, look - Shirley's missed out a'.

Rover

 

[ShirleyLing]

Is it a British English/American English divergence?

 

[Raymott]

"He was hired at reduced salary."

Do I need to put an "a" right before "reduced"?

It sounds fine to me without it.

 

[ShirleyLing]

So, "He was hired at reduced salary" is:
(1) wrong under British standards.
(2) correct under Australian standards.

Hmmm

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm a BrE speaker and I would use "He was hired at a reduced salary".

 

[ShirleyLing]

So, "salary" is always countable in BrE?

 

[ScarlettBegoni]

My Longman dictionary of contemporary English says it's countable and uncountable. How should I understand this?

 

[Rover_KE]

So, "salary" is always countable in BrE?

Not necessarily.

Look at this site for 15,000 examples of salary in context:

salary - FrazeIt Search

Rover

 

[Rover_KE]

My Longman dictionary of contemporary English says it's countable and uncountable. How should I understand this?

That it can be either depending on the context.

See this site for more examples of its use than you will probably need:

salary - FrazeIt Search

Rover

 

[emsr2d2]

My salary is quite high - countable.
The job attracts a very high salary - countable.

Salaries are rising all the time - uncountable.

 

[ShirleyLing]

So, in "He was hired at reduced salary", "salary" must be used in the countable sense and "a" must be added before "reduced salary"?

 

[Rover_KE]

So, in "He was hired at reduced salary", "salary" must be used in the countable sense and "a" must be added before "reduced salary"?

Nobody is going to say the indefinite article must be added.

You have already been told that both versions are acceptable.

Rover

 

[Raymott]

I say it's acceptable because I hear the following as being right:
"They recommenced his medications at reduced dosage."
"He started making his home brew at increased strength."
It has nothing specifically to do with 'salary', but for me, it works for 'salary'.

Shirley, don't be so quick to put everything down to national differences.