2

-- Shall we go for a vacation?

-- Let's __ a time for it.

A. make B. find C. get D. fix

I narrow the answers down to "make" or "find", and I prefer "find", but there is "make an appointment". What do you think?

I also wonder if "time" can be used as a countable noun? I thought it was always uncountable. I would have said "let's find some time for it" instead. What would you think?

Thank!

Improve this question
4

finding a time implies that unallocated time was available and it just needed to be identified and allocated for your purpose.

making a time implies that a deliberate decision was made to do something instead of other things. That is, you made the time available by actively forgoing something else.

Improve this answer
5
  • I edited my answer. The question of whether it should be a time or just time is a second question only introduced in the last paragraph of the post. But in answer: a time should be used when the intent is to actually allocate a specific time slot on the calendar. E.g., Let's find a time... how about between 3 and 4 on Thursday? Just finding time refers to the desire to do something in the abstract but without a specific timeslot identified.
    – Jim
    Dec 7 '13 at 23:56
  • 1
    Wouldn't "make time for" more idiomatic? The question sounds as if to choose "find a time for sth." vs. "make time for sth.".
    – Damkerng T.
    Dec 8 '13 at 6:05
  • @DamkerngT.- they are both idiomatic and are used in slightly different situations as I've outlined in my comment above. If I say, "We should make time to go to the circus" I mean that I think it would be a good idea to go and that I think it would be worth rearranging our schedules in order to see them, if necessary. But that's more of just an abstract comment on how worthwhile I think the circus is. But if I say, "We should make a time to go to see the circus," I'm implying that we should actually sit down and pick a time (and rearrange our schedules if necessary) to go see it.
    – Jim
    Dec 8 '13 at 8:41
  • 1
    @DamkerngT. Yes, make time is idiomatic while make a time is not. In COCA, I find 411 results for the former and only 11 for the latter; on inspection, all 11 are used in phrases where time is not the head noun, so all 11 are false positives. In contrast, out of a random sampling of 100 out of the 411 results for make time, almost all were actual examples.
    – user230
    Dec 8 '13 at 17:14
  • @snailboat- Here is an example of an actual usage I found in ngrams: She had promised to call and make a time to see his garden... (Note there are two different links in this comment)
    – Jim
    Dec 8 '13 at 17:22
2

  1. I think much "make time" is more common than "make a time." I suspect most instances of "make a time" are coming from non-native speakers.

  2. In fact, "fix a time" is quite common and in my opinion is the best answer to this question. ("Find time" is more common than "find a time" although the latter sounds better, but still quite wrong, than "make a time.") But "fix a time" works well when we use "time" as a count noun meaning "date."

  3. The sentence "shall we go for a vacation" strikes me as excessively old-fashioned, but maybe it is just British. More commonly, at least in American English, one would say "Let's go on a vacation" or "Do you want to go on a vacation?"

Improve this answer
1

I think "fix a time" is the best answer because it covers more aspects of a vacation whereas other terms may imply an effect on time such as finances and logistics, which might not be relevant to both parties.

Improve this answer
1
  • Rls -- Can you provide a little information about why you think this is true, and which English speakers are likely to agree with you? For example, are you a native speaker? Of which kind of English?
    – Jasper
    Mar 19 '15 at 15:57

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.