I wish you good day

[Tamara]

Hi

I wish you good day,...

I’ve read it in a novel – literally, without any other punctuation marks and without article.

BNC:

[Yankee]

Hi Tamara

With no additional context, I'd interpret I wish you good day as somone saying "Goodbye".

Amy

[Alan]

Hi Tamara,

In my book this is rather formal and oldfashioned. It lays itself open to two interptretaions, I would say.

It could be a final salutation - I'm off, I'm going, ta ta, cheerio, see you

It could also be a final salutation with a sting in the tail. It reminds me of an occasion of a deal I did or rather didn't do with a car salesman. He had agreed certain points and when it came to the handing over of my car and the taking over of his car, he reneged on one major point. I then somewhat dramatically tore up the contract and walked out of the showroom with those words: I wish you good day. I didn't half feel good.

Alan
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[Torsten]

Does adding an a change the meaning of the phrase? I mean what about I wish you a good day?
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[Alan]

Hi Torsten,

The addition of 'a' rather changes the meaning or puts it into another category. It suggests a good day of something like fishing, walking or whatever. The omission of the 'a' keeps it formal.

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
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[Tamara]

Hi Alan

Thanks a lot, indeed.
Great!

P.S. Correct use of articles is one my weakest points …
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[Alan]

Hi Tamara,

Can I interest you in my material on the site on this topic?

ESL Lesson: Articles in English: The vs. A/an
http://www.english-test.net/lessons/16/index.html

Alan
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[Tom]

Hello Alan

I do not know about Tamara but it did interest me!

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

I think this has been mentioned a few times before. Both obviously mean the same but the use of the definite article in The horse... tends in a way to glorify the horse, add extra dignity, put it at the top of the list as it were.

Alan
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[Tamara]

Thank you, Alan, for the link. I’ll take it.

Unfortunately, it’s not only a point of 'knowing rules'.
Use of articles is not natural for me (with my Slavic background). When I am highly attentive and specially concentrated on language constructions I use (rather than on the topic of conversation) – for example, when doing tests - I can do that at an… acceptable level.
But when I really work by using English – I still make lots of such mistakes…

(But, as the topic demonstrates – quite often any article is much better than nothing )
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[Alan]

Hi Tamara,

Funny you should mention about what they call zero article. Apparently it is becoming quite common in spoken English for the article to be dropped especially when the noun is qualified. You can hear people say: Oh yes, we had very nice holiday in Spain this year.

Listen out next time you hear people talking or being interviewed on the radio/tv.

Alan
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[Yankee]

[Alan]

Yes Amy, it is. We're clearly going to the dogs. It's terrible thing.

Alan
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[Tom]

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

What do you want to say?

Alan
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