Jason goes to cinema every Friday.
Or
Jason goes to the cinema every Friday .
Which sentence is correct ? The is used with specific or particular noun but here it doesn't look like it's a specific subject , the sentence is conveying here that it's Jason's every Friday routine to go to cinema . It can be any cinema.
It was asked in my exam and the solution has to the cinema as answer but I think its an error. Am I right?
Best Answer
"The cinema" is correct.
Whenever a noun is used in English in the singular, unless it is a proper name like "Bob" or "Russia", it must have either an article (a/the), a possessive (my/Sally's/etc), or one of a few other special adjectives, such as "one".
You could say, "Jason goes to a cinema every Friday." That would clearly indicate that it is not some specific cinema. But in practice, we usually say "Jason goes to the cinema every Friday." We use the definite article when speaking of something in the abstract, when we are talking about an undetermined member of a class. "Jason goes to the cinema every Friday." "Always look both ways before crossing the street." "The cat is a curious animal." Etc. Logically, by textbook explanations of "a" and "the", it sounds like you should use "a" because we are not talking about one specific instance but any instance. But in practice we use "the".
I think someone made up this rule to make it harder for foreigners to learn English. :-)