he took a leave of absence from public duty

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I turned on the radio, and it said:

-He took a leave of absence from public duty.

It's voice was so clear that I was able to recognise the indefinite article A, but in English, don't we never use A for LEAVE?

eg He was absent without leave.
eg The court granted him leave to appeal against the sentence.
eg She asked for leave of absence to attend a funeral.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 2 • Views: 629 • Replies: 11

[+3] - farmerman - 05/26/2013Was the program from the US? well theres your problem. We don't "Go to hospital" we go "to THE hospital"

@WBYeats,

Was the program from the US? well theres your problem. We don't "Go to hospital" we go "to THE hospital"

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@WBYeats,

Quote:

[It's] The voice was so clear that I was able to recognise the indefinite article A, but in English, [don't] do we [n]ever use A for LEAVE?

When it's 'leave' in the sense of a "leave of absence" we always do use 'a', WB.

eg He was absent without leave.
eg The court granted him leave to appeal against the sentence.
eg She asked for a leave of absence to attend a funeral.

The first two are not the same as 'leave of absence'. The third needs 'a'.

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@JTT,

Thanks all!

I'm happy to know that I have learned more~

Thanks JTT for correcting my post~

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In modern English do people use the plural form of LEAVE?

-I used to spend most of my leaves here.

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@WBYeats,

Quote:

In modern English do people use the plural form of LEAVE?

-I used to spend most of my leaves here.

My impression is that the word has more limited use than in the past. Perhaps military people use it this way.

As best as I can recall, I have never heard the plural used.

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@WBYeats,

The Panda eats shoots and leaves, or is it that the Panda eats, shoots, and leaves?

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@WBYeats,

Quote:

In modern English do people use the plural form of LEAVE?

-I used to spend most of my leaves here.

Yes, I'd consider that to be normal.

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@JTT,

Quote:

eg She asked for a leave of absence to attend a funeral.

The first two are not the same as 'leave of absence'. The third needs 'a'.

That's not normal idiom round these parts (UK English = English)

"She asked for leave/
She asked for leave of absence"; the article "a" is not required.

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Thank you, JTT, Mctag~

But what does farmerman mean?

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@WBYeats,

he is referencing a somewhat well-known book about punctuation

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@ehBeth,

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he took a leave of absence from public duty

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