0
Anonymous Posted 12 years ago
Vocabulary

It is common practice to vs It is a common practice to

Hi, can you help me?

Why is this phrase "It is common practice" used without an article? Would it be wrong to say "it is a common practice"?

Is "common practice" a countable noun? When can you leave the article away with countable nouns?

Thanks for helping me!
  

Top answer

Anonymous Would it be wrong to say "it is a common practice"? No, it is not wrong, if you mean a particular procedure. "Common practice" means generally acceptable ways of doing something.

— AlpheccaStars

  • Anonymous Would it be wrong to say "it is a common practice"?
  • No, it is not wrong, if you mean a particular procedure.
  • "Common practice" means generally acceptable ways of doing something.
  • It is a generalization, so an article is not used.
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

3 Answers
0
AnonymousWould it be wrong to say "it is a common practice"?
No, it is not wrong, if you mean a particular procedure.
"Common practice" means generally acceptable ways of doing something. It is a generalization, so an article is not used.
0
0
It still remains a bit unclear to me, could you give some examples? Also if there are other words/phrases that are generalizations and used without any article even though they are in singular, eg. Good example is... (without a)

It's so hard to understand these when, for example, Longman student grammar doesn't say anything about this kind of phrases.

Thank you very much!
0
0
AnonymousGood example is... (without a)
Example is always specific. An article is always required.
There are many concept or topical words that are either general or specific:

Hard work is good for you. (General)
The work on the farm is hard. (Specific)

She's a real beauty. (specific)
Real beauty
0

Related Questions