posted by rfvv Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 7:16pm

1. He goes to an academy to study math and English.
[Is 'an academy' in generic use? Or Does 'an' mean 'one'?]

2. He goes to academies to study math and English.
[Is the word 'academies' in generic use?]

3. He goes to the academy to study math and English.
[Does 'the academy' mean the specific academy? Or is 'the academy' in generic use?]
Writeacher Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 7:32pm
In all those sentences, academy/academies is generic, of course. If it were the name of the school, it would read something like this: The Math and Science Academy.

When you put a/an in front of a word, yes, you're indicating one, although perhaps not a particular one.

rfvv Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 7:47pm
Thank you for your help.
4. He goes to academies to study math and English after school.
5. He goes to an academy to study math and English after school.
6. He goes to academy to study math and English after school.
[Then, you mean we can use both 4 and 5. In #4 'academies' are in generic use. In #5, is 'an academy' in generic use? In #6, is 'goes to academy' ungrammatical?]

Writeacher Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 7:49pm
That's right. You can use 4 and 5, but 6 shouldn't be used as it's written.

Reed Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 7:51pm
If the word "academy" is the name of the school, Academy, it is a proper noun and should be capitalized. As a common noun, you really need "an" or "the".

rfvv Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 9:08pm
Thank you for your help. By the way, do you mean that 'an academy' is in generic use?

Writeacher Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 11:21pm
Yes.
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Thank you for your help.

1. He goes to academies to take three subjects. [academies in general]
2. He goes to an academy to take three subjects. [an academy in general]

3. He goes to the academy to take three subjects.
4. He goes to the specific academy to take three subjects. [specific]
5. He goes to the academy in general to take three subjects. [in generic use]
[What about #3? Does #3 mean #4 or #5?]

6. He goes to one academy to take three subjects.
[Can #2 mean #6 sometimes?]

7. He goes to two academies to take three subjects.
[This sentence is acceptable, isn't it?]

6. He goes to one academy to take three subjects.

[Can #2 mean #6 sometimes?]
Sometimes it can, but normally "an" would be used. If you want to include "one," here are some possibilities:
He goes to one of the fine arts academies in the city to take three subjects.
or
He goes to one academy to take three subjects, but then he goes to another academy to study music.

7. He goes to two academies to take three subjects.
[This sentence is acceptable, isn't it?]

Yes.

Regarding your questions:

1. He goes to academies to take three subjects. [academies in general]
Explanation: In this sentence, "academies" is used in a generic sense, meaning he goes to any academies available to take his subjects.

2. He goes to an academy to take three subjects. [an academy in general]
Explanation: Similarly, in this sentence, "an academy" is used in a generic sense, implying that he goes to any single academy to take his subjects.

3. He goes to the academy to take three subjects.
Explanation: In this sentence, "the academy" can be interpreted both as a specific academy or in a generic sense, depending on the context. It would be helpful to have more information to determine whether it is referring to a specific academy or not.

4. He goes to the specific academy to take three subjects. [specific]
Explanation: In this sentence, "the specific academy" clearly indicates that he goes to a particular academy to take his subjects.

5. He goes to the academy in general to take three subjects. [in generic use]
Explanation: In this sentence, "the academy" is used generically, implying that he goes to any academy in general to take his subjects.

Regarding #3, it can be interpreted as both #4 (specific) and #5 (generic), depending on the context and the intended meaning.

Regarding #2 and #6, while they can be used interchangeably in some cases, it is important to note that sentence #2 generally implies going to any single academy in general, while sentence #6 specifically states going to one academy (which can be any single academy), emphasizing the fact that it is not multiple academies.

Regarding #7, the sentence "He goes to two academies to take three subjects" is syntactically correct and acceptable. It indicates that he attends two different academies to study three subjects.