On Monday/ On Mondays

[john martin]

The question is about the "s".

I always go to work on Monday.

I always go to work on Mondays.

Which is correct.
Thanks.

[Stephen Jones]

Both

[LarryLatham]

Yes, both. But please note that the thrust of meaning is not quite identical. A speaker using the singular version likely has in his mind (as always, at the particular and unique moment of speaking or writing) some singular notion of Monday...perhaps it is that he is mindful that Monday occurs only once each week.

One using the plural version, has (again, in his mind) some justification for thinking of a series of Mondays.

But Stephen is right: both are correct and common.

Larry Latham

[revel]

Let me slip into that telephone booth and unfurl my cape....

It's CONTEXTMAN!

"What are you doing next week?"

"Well, I always work on Monday. On Tuesday I'm free."

or

"What are you doing next week?"

"This year I always work on Mondays, but I have Tuesdays free."

Not meant to prescribe a usage but to demonstrate one....I agree with most, both are correct and differences in usage, as usual, would depend on many factors....hehe!

peace,
revel. (aka CONTEXTMAN!)

[Stephen Jones]

Dear CONTEXTMAN,

Keep the cape on; there doesn't appear to be much underneath.

[Duncan Powrie]

!!!

Fight fight fight!

[Duncan Powrie]

I think it's time for...THE BROWN BOTTLE!!! (Shame on you if you don't read Viz!).

1. A: What are you doing next week? (it's a holiday)
B: Well, on Monday I'm having my claws pedicured, and on Tuesday I'm having my feet manacled, and on Wednesday I'm going shopping for a good dictionary...

2. A: What do you usually do at the weekend?
B: Well, on Saturdays I usually plan what I'd like to do on Sunday(s?), and on Sundays/(the) Sunday I think about what I didn't do on (the) Saturday...

(Genuine excerpts from the Brown Bottle Corpus, the basis of the forthcoming Brown Bottle English Course! RESERVE A COPY NOW!!!).

1 is about specific (future) days; 2 is about days in general (although referring back would seem likely to affect any choice between singular and plural).

'Owzat?[/i]

[Stephen Jones]

'Owzat?

Not out!

To quote somebody or other
"'twere to think too deeply
to consider so".

There is not one example given here where the two forms are not interchangeable.

[Duncan Powrie]

'Owzat?

Not out!

To quote somebody or other
"'twere to think too deeply
to consider so".

There is not one example given here where the two forms are not interchangeable.

Yeah, you're probably right, Stephen - AGAIN!

"We" only work these "problems" half to death because we are waiting for jucier things to sink our linguistic teeth into...

[Duncan Powrie]

There is not one example given here where the two forms are not interchangeable.

Hmm, having thought about it a bit longer, I am not sure that in the first example dialogue that I gave above (1), that B could answer ?/*"Well, on MondayS...". I think this is an instance where the forms are not interchangeable at all (unless you happen to be somebody like Gollum).

In 2, I suppose B could answer using either form, but wouldn't the plural would be the more obvious choice?

[Stephen Jones]

I shouldn't make generalizaitions without reading everything first. Obviously we can't use 'on Mondays' referring to something only done once.

However we can use 'on Monday' as an alternative to 'on Mondays' in every case I can think of. Incidentally, nobody has mentioned the third form 'Mondays' without the 'on'.

I think this is one of those cases where, although there might be a reason for choosing one form over the other in the mind of the original speaker, that decision does not carry any distinguishing infomration to the hearer.

[Duncan Powrie]

I shouldn't make generalizaitions without reading everything first. Obviously we can't use 'on Mondays' referring to something only done once.

Was there that much to read?! Posts on Dave's - like trying to stay ahead of research in SLA!

However we can use 'on Monday' as an alternative to 'on Mondays' in every case I can think of.

Let's see these examples, then, or do I need to get a bonesaw to look inside your head?

Incidentally, nobody has mentioned the third form 'Mondays' without the 'on'.

Wow, you'd sound well 'ard if you started saying that!

I think this is one of those cases where, although there might be a reason for choosing one form over the other in the mind of the original speaker, that decision does not carry any distinguishing infomration to the hearer.

Well, mixing up your singulars and plurals wouldn't do your listener any favours now, would it - much like trying to say "infomration" (hic) would make your listeners think you were p*ssed (or taking the p*ss).

[Duncan Powrie]

I shouldn't make generalizaitions without reading everything first. Obviously we can't use 'on Mondays' referring to something only done once.

However we can use 'on Monday' as an alternative to 'on Mondays' in every case I can think of. Incidentally, nobody has mentioned the third form 'Mondays' without the 'on'.

I think this is one of those cases where, although there might be a reason for choosing one form over the other in the mind of the original speaker, that decision does not carry any distinguishing infomration to the hearer.

I still think things fall into two groups: on (this particular, recently past or soon coming) Monday; and on MondayS (in general).

Thus (as you realized, Stephen), "on Mondays" can't be used with things that occur only once, but you seem to have overlooked that saying this in reply to the "general" question in the Brown Bottle's second context would seem most odd (presuming that we could be absolutely certain that it was indeed a singular that was said, in intentional and very distinct contrast to a perhaps "muffled -s" plural).

And in contrast to your view, I think speakers probably make even these kind of seemingly "minor" distinctions quite regularly and systematically, precisely because distinguishable forms shape the discourse and make it cohere well, and thus help the listener to continue making maximal sense of it all, without hindrance.

[Stephen Jones]

I go to church on Sunday.
I go to church on Sundays.
I go to church, Sundays.

I challenge you to find any difference in meaning between the three.

t saying this in reply to the "general" question in the Brown Bottle's second context would seem most odd (presuming that we could be absolutely certain that it was indeed a singular that was said, in intentional and very distinct contrast to a perhaps "muffled -s" plural).

I have no idea what you are talking about here. The question What do you usually do at the weekend? can be answered beginning with the words 'on Saturday', 'on Saturdays' or 'Saturdays' indiscriminately. Incidentally, I don't see any difference in social dialect between the three.

[Duncan Powrie]

I also can't see any difference in meaning between your three sentences. The main reason for this is because they are decontextualized! Things can get a little more complicated when a context (along with another speaker) is envisaged: this will begin to constrain what we might actually end up saying.

I think I've realized what the (my?) problem generally is, though: I've been subconsciously moving the time adverbial at the front of the sentence in my examples (I am sure this would be the more natural thing for a speaker to do in a conversation - well, okay, at least in the conversations as I've imagined them!).* And in talking about days in general, the plural, in this sentence-initial position, would seem more natural to my ear:

What do you usually do at the weekend?

? On Saturday I often go...
On Saturdays I often go...
? I often go to the gym on Saturday(s).

I don't really know if singular or plural would be more likely in the final example sentence above. I suppose that now, off the top of my head, I would make a pedagogical decision to mainly hammer home the use of the singular (in the Brown Bottle's first example dialogue) than worry too much about the plural contexts.

So, like you have said, Stephen, maybe it is not worth investigating this further; I guess this is the sort of thing that would get "resolved" more in the day-to-day writing of a textbook's dialogues than through exhaustive research (or, perhaps easier still, a natural conversation could be transcribed and printed if the writing was too much to contemplate).

Anyway, thanks for replying and making me think things through further, Stephen!

* I've mentioned subtle sentence-altering on Dave's several times, but as long as we are or become aware of it and understand why it is happening, I guess it is excusable (and I seem to be about the only one who who has mentioned it at all, usually in relation to my own examples).