4

After Paul came back from his expedition around Africa he started to write a book about his...

What would you say, his journey or his travels (plural) if there is no other context? It seemed logical to me to use journey because it is not clear from this sentence that he made any other travels besides this African expedition.

But I was told that it is correct to use travels here because the meaning of the word travel is broader while journey usually means a trip from point A to point B so it is not correct for a travel around Africa.

Improve this question
4
  • 1
    I would prefer this construction: "When Paul returned from his expedition to Africa, he began writing a book about his travels." I agree with you that "journey" or "journeys" should be saved for later use and not used in this introductory sentence.
    – Mark Hubbard
    Sep 27, 2016 at 15:31
  • 1
    Note that his expedition around Africa implies a single (goal-oriented) series of journeys. It's largely a matter of opinion, but personally I'd say use journeys if you want to focus on the process of moving between many different places, or travels if you're more interested in the fact of having visited and spend time in multiple locations (and the contrast between them, for example).
    – FumbleFingers
    Sep 27, 2016 at 15:31
  • Note: I also agree with @FumbleFingers.
    – Mark Hubbard
    Sep 27, 2016 at 15:32
  • @Mark: I don't think "correct" is really the right word here (of the four permutations, only singular travel would be ridiculously non-idiomatic, and even that wouldn't exactly be "incorrect" - just "unlikely"). But I can easily see the case for singular journey if one wanted to allude to Paul's expedition as representing a metaphoric "voyage of [self] discovery". On the other hand, You should write a book about your travels is so common it's almost a cliche, but you'd rarely hear You should write a book about your journeys.
    – FumbleFingers
    Sep 27, 2016 at 16:00

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

"expedition around Africa" implies that Paul travelled in multiple places (because the word around is used). It is more appropriate to use the plural form of journey or travel here.

After Paul came back from his expedition around Africa he started to write a book about his travels.

You could reformat it as suggested by Mark Hubbard:

When Paul returned from his expedition to Africa, he began writing a book about his travels.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .