Here are some pictures of my holiday in Italy, or is it my holidays? or is it my vacation?
Confusing isn' it? Today we explain the difference between "holiday", "holidays", "vacation"
and we'll also look at "leave" and "day of".
Ok so let's get straight into it there is a difference between British and American
English and I'll return to that in a minute but from a British perspective a holiday can
be a single day such as a public holiday usually called a bank holiday in the UK but a holiday
can also refer to a longer period when you take time off from work or study. For example,
"I'm exhausted so I've decided to take a holiday next week". However, "holidays" with an "s"
refer to the big holiday that you take once a year. For example We're going to Majorca
for our holidays this year. Remember "holidays" is a plural noun so it goes with a plural
verb. For example "our holidays in Switzerland were amazing".
Sometimes you use the preposition "on" to say
"on holiday" but never "on holidays" that's not correct. "I was on holiday last
month". Just in the singular.
Now, in American English they also use the word "holiday" when they talk about a public
holiday (what we call a bank holiday in the UK). Labor Day is a holiday, Thanksgiving
is a holiday. So when we say "tomorrow is a holiday", it has the same meaning in the
US and the UK. But while in Britain we use the same word "holiday" (or holidays) to talk
about these longer periods that you decide take off In American English it's called a
vacation. So Americans will say "I'm on vacation for two weeks" The British will say "I'm on
holiday for two weeks." It's that simple.
Then we have the word "leave": This is a more formal term to talk about the permission you
have to be absent from your work. Paid holiday from your work is called "annual leave". At
work you might here someone say "Mr Smith is on leave this week" for example. This type
of paid leave can be called informally "a day" or "days off". For example
"I'm taking a day off tomorrow to go for a drive".
There are other types of leave too. Maternity leave,
for a mother with a new baby or paternity leave for the father and sick leave if you
can't go to work because you're sick.
Ok that's it I hope you found that useful More English language videos coming soon.