1. Shall we go to a movie?

1-2. Shall we go to the movie?
2. Shall we go to see a movie?
3. Shall we go to see the movie?
4. Shall we go to the movies?
5. Shall we go to the movie?

(Are all the sentences grammatical? I think #4 is correct. What about # 5?)

6. The bag was gone.
6-2. The bag disappeared.
(Are both the same?)

7. He was gone.
7-2. He disappeared.
(Are both the same?)

8. There are two McDonald's here.
8-2. There are two McDonals's' here.
8-3. There are two McDonald'ses here.

(Which one is correct?)

1 answer

All of the first five are all correct. When you say "a movie," you mean any movie. "The movie" implies a specific movie that you've already talked about. The exception is # 4 -- "the movies" -- which means any movie.

# 6 and 7. They are almost the same. With 6-2, you're implying that you don't know what happened to the bag. With 6-1, it's not clear whether you know what happened to the bag. For instance, you might say, "I saw a group of men around the bag -- and then it was gone."

Only the first # 8 is correct. The other two are not correct.