3

What sentence is correct and why:

I spent my holiday at the seaside.

I spent my holidays at the seaside.

or

Where do you want to go for a holiday?

Where do you want to go for holidays?

I would choose the second option, with holidays being plural but I often came across the singular form of this word and now I'm not so sure anymore.

1 Answer 1

2

From the Collins Dictionary:

A holiday is a period of time during which you relax and enjoy yourself away from home. People sometimes refer to their holiday as their holidays. (British English) (American English: vacation)

Therefore, all the sentences in your question are correct. You could also say, "I spent my vacation at the seaside" and "Where do you want to go for a vacation?" to make your sentences sound American.

By the way, the holidays are the time when children do not have to go to school (British English). In American English, the word "vacation" is used to refer to this time: Annie likes to spend the holidays/vacation at her grandparents'.

1
  • 1
    I will note that in the US, holiday mainly refers to specific employer provided days off (e.g. Christmas or Fourth of July). So for the US, the OP's first sentence would be common, the others less so. As for your lat note, we often refer to the time between the end and start of the school year as "summer vacation", but time off school near Christmas and Easter is normally referred to as winter and spring break respectively.
    – pboss3010
    Commented Oct 3, 2019 at 12:32

You must log in to answer this question.

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