0
Exodejavu Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

On national holidays; on the national holiday

Hi,

A test question asks students to translate a Chinese sentence into English.
The given answer is -- People don't have to work and go to school on national holidays.

Are these two permissible?
-- People don't have to work and go to school on the national holiday. -- I think it is okay. Right?
-- People don't have to work and go to school on the national holidays. -- Is it permissible?

Best Wishes
  

Top answer

-- This is the correct statement of the general rule. People don't have to work or go to school on the national holiday. -- This is correct only when referring to a single specific or previously-mentioned holiday.

— Mister Micawber

  • -- This is the correct statement of the general rule.
  • People don't have to work or go to school on the national holiday.
  • -- This is correct only when referring to a single specific or previously-mentioned holiday.
  • People don't have to work or go to school on the national holidays.
  • -- This is correct only if the national holidays have been specified or previously mentioned.
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.

4 Answers
0
.
People don't have to work or go to school on national holidays.-- This is the correct statement of the general rule.
People don't have to work or go to school on the national holiday. -- This is correct only when referring to a single specific or previously-mentioned holiday.
People don't have to work or go to school on the national holidays. --
0
0
Hi, Mr. Micawber.

With respect to what you said, the national holiday(s) refer to the previously-mentioned holiday(s).
Given it is just a sentence without surrounding context, would you mark them as correct?
0
0
.
No, without context the last 2 sound odd.
.
0
0

Related Questions