6. He goes to one academy to take three subjects.
[Can #2 mean #6 sometimes?]
Sometimes it can, but normally "an" would be used. If you want to include "one," here are some possibilities:
He goes to one of the fine arts academies in the city to take three subjects.
or
He goes to one academy to take three subjects, but then he goes to another academy to study music.
7. He goes to two academies to take three subjects.
[This sentence is acceptable, isn't it?]
Yes.
posted by rfvv Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 7:16pm
1. He goes to an academy to study math and English.
[Is 'an academy' in generic use? Or Does 'an' mean 'one'?]
2. He goes to academies to study math and English.
[Is the word 'academies' in generic use?]
3. He goes to the academy to study math and English.
[Does 'the academy' mean the specific academy? Or is 'the academy' in generic use?]
Writeacher Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 7:32pm
In all those sentences, academy/academies is generic, of course. If it were the name of the school, it would read something like this: The Math and Science Academy.
When you put a/an in front of a word, yes, you're indicating one, although perhaps not a particular one.
rfvv Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 7:47pm
Thank you for your help.
4. He goes to academies to study math and English after school.
5. He goes to an academy to study math and English after school.
6. He goes to academy to study math and English after school.
[Then, you mean we can use both 4 and 5. In #4 'academies' are in generic use. In #5, is 'an academy' in generic use? In #6, is 'goes to academy' ungrammatical?]
Writeacher Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 7:49pm
That's right. You can use 4 and 5, but 6 shouldn't be used as it's written.
Reed Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 7:51pm
If the word "academy" is the name of the school, Academy, it is a proper noun and should be capitalized. As a common noun, you really need "an" or "the".
rfvv Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 9:08pm
Thank you for your help. By the way, do you mean that 'an academy' is in generic use?
Writeacher Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 11:21pm
Yes.
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Thank you for your help.
1. He goes to academies to take three subjects. [academies in general]
2. He goes to an academy to take three subjects. [an academy in general]
3. He goes to the academy to take three subjects.
4. He goes to the specific academy to take three subjects. [specific]
5. He goes to the academy in general to take three subjects. [in generic use]
[What about #3? Does #3 mean #4 or #5?]
6. He goes to one academy to take three subjects.
[Can #2 mean #6 sometimes?]
7. He goes to two academies to take three subjects.
[This sentence is acceptable, isn't it?]
1 answer
1 answer