A Lunch or Lunch? Which is correct? - One Minute English

“To have lunch” is correct when we are speaking about having lunch in general. “A lunch” is only used with compound nouns that include the word lunch. Skiptocontent“Tohavelunch”iscorrectwhenwearespeakingabouthavinglunchingeneral.“Alunch”isonlyusedwithcompoundnounsthatincludethewordlunch.Lunch “Lunch”withnoarticleisthemostcommonformofhavingamealinthemiddleoftheday.Theword“lunch”iscommonlycolocatedwiththeverbs“tohave”,“toeat”or“go(out)for”.Let’shavelunchonthebalcony.Let’seatlunchnow.Whydon’twegooutforlunchtoday?ALunch “Alunch”ispossibleinEnglish.Itusuallyactsasanadjective(intheformofacompoundnoun)inEnglishanddescribesthenounthatfollows.Don’tforgettobringalunchbox.Ineedtotakealunchbreak.Inthiscase,weusethearticle“a”becausewearereferringto“oneofmany”Inthefirstexampleabove,theremightbemanylunchboxessoyouneedtochooseone.Thiscouldworkinmanyexamples.Thinkabout“alunchmeeting”.Therecouldbemanytypesofmeetingsand“alunchmeeting”isjustoneofthem.Wedonotuse“alunch”alone(unless“meeting”isimplied)Iwanttoeatalunch.  IhavealunchwiththeCEOlater.(meetingisimplied) TheLunchWeuse“thelunch”whenreferringtoaspecificlunch.Wearetalkingaboutthefoodfor“thelunch”Weoftenuse“thelunch”whenwewanttohighlightthefoodthatweateduringourlunch.Ienjoyedourstayatthehotel.Thefacilitiesweren’tgreatbutthelunchwasfantastic. Wealsouse“thelunch”whenreferringtocompoundnounswhenbothpeopleknowwhatwearetalkingabout.Doyoubringthelaptopforthelunchmeeting? HaveaniceLunch(a+adjective+Lunch)Whenyouaddanadjectivebeforelunch,youalsoneedtoaoran.Haveagreatlunch.Ihadanamazinglunch,Thankyou.Whatanincrediblelunch!LunchorLunches(Plural)Thepluralof“lunch”iseitherlunchorlunches. Weuselunchasthepluralwhenwearetalkingaboutlunchingeneralifwealleatthesamelunch.Whatarewehavingforlunch?Weuse“lunches”whenwearetalkingaboutdifferenttypesoflunches.Thiscouldhappenifagroupofpeopleeatdifferentlunchesorthinkaboutdifferent“lunches”fordifferenttimes.Iamsoprepared!Ihavemadeallthelunchesfortheweek.Didthechildrenenjoytheirpackedlunches?(Theirparentspreparedtheirlunchesathome)LuncheonmeaningLuncheonisaformalwordthatalsomeansLunchbutisextremelyrarenowadays.Theonlytimeyoumightseetheword“luncheon”iswhenwetalkabout“luncheonmeat”whichiscannedmeat.  Postnavigation←PreviousPostNextPost→$10ExtraCreditFor50%DiscountforEspressoEnglish600+lessonsxx