| | | - ( uncountable ) Homework is practice or study that you are supposed to do outside class. Here is a fun and simple activity to do as a classroom or homework assignment. 75% of our students in grades 6-11 are using the Internet to complete their homework . Dad, could you help me with my homework ? You have to do your homework before you can watch TV.
- If you do homework on/about a topic, you find information about it. We didn't do enough homework before buying the car, and it was a big mistake.
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- Uncountable nouns
- Unexpected parameter in audio template
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homework vs. a homework
When is it acceptable to use "a homework?". As an ESL practitioner, I had to look it up, and found a source which says "a homework" is only acceptable among native speakers. So, should non-native speakers just stick to "homework" as uncountable?
- 4 In the US "homework" is considered to be a "mass" noun and articles are not used. (May be different in the UK or India.) A "homework assignment" is an individual piece of homework and does take an article. – Hot Licks Commented Jan 13, 2016 at 3:56
- 1 Native speakers don't say a homework . – GoDucks Commented Jan 13, 2016 at 4:16
- Possible duplicate of Is "homework" countable? – user24743 Commented Jan 13, 2016 at 5:17
2 Answers 2
Whereas it's foreseeable that some native English speaker could get away with saying, "I have a homework due in second period," to mean that they have a singular homework assignment due then, it isn't standard fare. Native speakers don't say it this way. In 22 years of schooling, from kindergarten through my PhD, I've never heard anyone say it like that. Perhaps the reference is saying that a native speaker could get away with it, while a ESL student could not, which is probably true. Rest assured that "homework" remains an uncountable noun.
- 1 I am old enough to remember when in Britain it wasn't called homework , it was called prep (preparation). In the British public-school (meaning private) system, historically children did not go home . The posh classes sent their little darlings to Dickensian boarding schools which were more like fierce prisons. But words like prep , and matron lingered on into the day-systems of the 1950s. Now prep was not a mass noun. In our first year we got two preps a night e.g. Mon-Maths & French; Tues Latin & Biology etc. – WS2 Commented Jan 13, 2016 at 9:50
- @WS2 : Sounds absolutely lovely. 'Please, sir, I want some more.' – Benjamin Harman Commented Jan 13, 2016 at 10:34
In general, you should try to avoid saying "a homework." (As a native speaker, it sounds very strange)
The best reason I can think of why it sounds strange is because the word is indefinite in size. Saying "a" homework contradicts its nature of being indefinite by assigning a size to something that is arbitrary. For example, you can say that I have seven "assignments", but I cannot say that I have seven "homeworks".
(Depending on what your native language is, this may or may not feel natural)
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Any assignment you're expected to complete after school and bring back to class the next day is called homework. Many students make up excuses for not having their homework done. The "My dog ate my homework " excuse doesn't work so well in the digital age.
noun. schoolwork assigned to be done outside the classroom ( distinguished from classwork ). a single assignment of such schoolwork: Homeworks are due at the beginning of class. paid work done at home, as piecework. thorough preparatory study of a subject: to do one's homework for the next committee meeting. homework.
noun. 1. work, esp. piecework, done at home. 2. lessons to be studied or schoolwork to be done outside the classroom. 3. US. study or research in preparation for some project, activity, etc. : used mainly in the phrase do one's homework.
Noun. [edit] homework (usually uncountable, plural homeworks) Exercises assigned by a teacher to a student which review concepts studied in class. You must do your homework before you can watch television. (by extension) Something which one is encouraged to learn or study on one's own.
What type of noun is the word homework? The noun 'homework' is a common, compound, abstract, uncountable noun; a word for a form of study or preparation; a word for a concept.
HOMEWORK definition: 1. work that teachers give students to do at home: 2. to prepare carefully for a situation: . Learn more.
Britannica Dictionary definition of HOMEWORK. [noncount] 1. : work that a student is given to do at home. Please do/finish your homework. She started her algebra homework. — compare classwork. 2. : research or reading done in order to prepare for something — used in the phrase do your homework.
Homework definition: Work, such as schoolwork or piecework, that is done at home.
Noun. (uncountable) Homework is practice or study that you are supposed to do outside class. Here is a fun and simple activity to do as a classroom or homework assignment. 75% of our students in grades 6-11 are using the Internet to complete their homework. Dad, could you help me with my homework?
In the US "homework" is considered to be a "mass" noun and articles are not used. (May be different in the UK or India.) A "homework assignment" is an individual piece of homework and does take an article.