Consider this example:
People tend to understand and use sarcasm
from a young age.
People tend to understand and use sarcasm
from young age.
Which one of these is grammatically correct
and why?
答:
The only example of where I would use
'young age' without an indefinite article, would be if I formed it into what is
effectively a combined noun e.g. 'Young age is no excuse for misbehaviour'.
I might use 'young' by itself, such as in:
'Our dialect is something we learn from young'. Otherwise I believe that
"young age" would always need to be preceded by the indefinite
article, as in: 'I was taught English from a young age'.
On the other hand 'old age' can be used
variously: e.g. 'She has retained her health into old age', or 'Living to a
very old age is a mixed blessing', or 'Ninety-nine is an old age by any
reckoning'.
Curiously 'middle-age' which tends, more
often than not, to be hyphenated, never seems to take an article. e.g. 'The
onset of middle-age can be a problem to some people' or 'It is a hobby people
often take up in middle-age'.
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