terrylng  +  112294 Sat, 25 Jun 05 09:59 AM Should one say "Do you buy newspaper every day?", "Do you buy A newspaper every day?" or "Do you buy THE newspaper every day?" if one wants to ask about someone else's habit of buying newspapers? I would like to know which one(s) is/are acceptable and/or natural. If more than one choice is possible, is there any slight difference in meaning between the different choices? I would appreciate if somebody could help me out on this. terrylng Joined on Sat, Jun 25 2005 New Member 05

	pieanne  +  112314 Sat, 25 Jun 05 11:59 AM Hello, Terrying, Welcome to the Forums! "Do you buy newspaper every day?": you won't say that; or you'll have to add an -s to newspaper. "Do you buy A newspaper every day?": that's OK; it means you buy a newspaper everyday, but not necessarily the same. "Do you buy THE newspaper every day?" : fine too, but it implies you know which newspaper you're talking about, or it's the one the person's used to, or it's a generic newspaper, The Newspaper. pieanne Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005 South of France ...But I'm Belgian! Veteran Member 7,517 I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...

	terrylng  +  112430 Sat, 25 Jun 05 05:07 PM pieanne, Thank you very much for your advice! Does someone else thinks otherwise? Hope to hear more from all of you about this. terrylng

	pieanne  +  112434 Sat, 25 Jun 05 05:13 PM You're welcome, Terrying. Let's wait and see! pieanne

	goldmund  +  112513 Sun, 26 Jun 05 12:44 AM Dear TerryIng, It is strange. In my opinion, it is not correct to say 'do you buy the newspaper every day?' But it is correct to say 'do you read the paper every day?' I do not know why. But it is only my opinion. Let us wait and see. Have a nice weekend, Goldmund goldmund Joined on Fri, Jun 10 2005 Regular Member 581 «Tout homme peut dire véritablement; mais dire ordonnément, prudemment et suffisamment, peu d'hommes le peuvent.» - Michel de Montaigne

	CalifJim  +  112829 Mon, 27 Jun 05 07:19 AM It's completely correct to say "Do you buy the newspaper every day?" The speaker has in mind a particular newspaper. In the small town where I grew up, there was only one newspaper available. It was therefore inevitably that particular paper that the townspeople had in mind when they asked "Do you buy the newspaper every day?" CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,128 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche