Posted by InJen · April 28, 2012 · 2 replies
In the FREE LUNCH item of the new word supplement list of Oxford 4th:
There's no such thing as a free lunch.
I think this sentence might be wrong, because THING is a countable noun, and an indefinite article should be inserted before THING;
Apart from this, I, when searching words in online dictionaries, often see this:no such word;
I am not a native English speaker, and so not qualified to challenge Oxford 4th.
Could anyone tell me what's wrong with my statement?
You don't need an article with singular nouns, when you have a quantifier such as no, each, or every. Compare these sentences :
We have a slight chance of succeeding.
We have every chance of succeeding.
They took each chance they were offered.
We don't have a chance of succeeding.
We have no chance of succeeding.
I never miss a free lunch.
I go to every free lunch which I'm invited to.
There is such a thing as a free lunch - but it's rare.
There's no such thing as a free lunch.
thank you~~
