English Language & Usage Asked by Łukasz Szkup on February 18, 2021
At school I was taught that before the plural form we don’t use the articles a and an. So why do people use a before big congratulations?
Examples:
A Big Congratulations!
Further to our article last month, we wanted to congratulate Jane Mason and Tom Wicks on their effort in Nottingham Life Cycle 5. Jane and her team completed her 50 miles, while Tom finished his 75 miles in the aid of raising money for dementia research. link
A big congratulations to Hozier from Artists Den and Chase Sapphire Preferred for being nominated for “Favorite Artist- Alternative Rock” by the American Music Awards. link
plus many more found on the Internet.
The term congratulation remains a noun whether it is used as an interjection or not. The term love in the exclamation, “Love you!” is still a verb, so I cannot help but disagree with @Spencer's analysis
However, it is interesting that congratulations is far more common than the singular congratulation. To say to someone Congratulation on your wedding! would be odd, but if you send someone a letter of congratulation that is acceptable.
From (my hard copy) Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary
congratulation /kənˌɡrætʃuˈleɪʃn/ noun 1 [U] the action of congratulating sb or of being congratulated: a speech of congratulation for the winner. 2 congratulations [pl] (a) words of congratulation: offer sb one's congratulations on his sucess. (b) (also infml congrats) (used as an interjection): Congratulations on passing your driving test!
My dictionary also informs me that the indefinite article a is used with an abstract uncountable noun when it is preceded by an adjective, e.g. We're looking for someone with a good knowledge of German.
Consequently, a big (and also a great big) is often collocated with welcome, and thank you, e.g.
and the fixed expressions:
are perfectly idiomatic in English, although ‘a’ precedes a plural noun.
I think native speakers would say a big congratulation if the singular form was idiomatic when congratulating someone, but it's simply not. Although the following are commonly said and heard in speeches, they do sound a little formal.
Native speakers are just used to using the plural noun form
see also: "Congratulation" vs. "congratulations"
Correct answer by Mari-Lou A on February 18, 2021
In this case saying "big congrats" would seem to indicate that you are giving multiple "congrats". The "a" before the phrase shows that you gave exactly one "big congrats", or gave told them "congratulations" in a big way only once.
Answered by timthebomb on February 18, 2021
Just another one of those crazy things to trip over in English.
I would like to offer a big "Congratulations!" to Bill and Sasha.
The word congratulations here isn't a noun; instead, it's an interjection, made into a quotation and then stuck in a sentence in place of a noun.
The speaker is saying, in a roundabout way, that he would like to say "Congratulations!". Once. Thus making the article necessary.
The speaker could have said
A big "Way to go!" to Bill and Sasha
or, less awkwardly,
I would like to offer my congratulations to Bill and Sasha.
instead.
Answered by Spencer on February 18, 2021
I'm a native English speaker, and here are my thoughts:
This expression is chiefly British-English and, although technically wrong, is commonly used throughout the UK. Sadly, there are many phrases we use when speaking that would sound wrong to someone whose expertise is English as a second language.
An example and frequently used expression is the word and use of "sat" instead of "sitting".
We British often use "sat" in the following ways, "we were sat", "when you're sat for two hours on a hard bench, it's a killer" or "I was sat over there".
The above three examples wouldn't sound wrong to most native English speakers because they're used in speech so often that they sound correct when, in fact, "sitting / was sitting" should've been used instead.
Answered by user261901 on February 18, 2021
I know this is an old post but I just faced this situation of A before congratulations with S. I graduated from a US university, received a letter from the dean with that expression (I would like to personally extend a sincere congratulations), and emailed my advisor to have the dean's secretary fix what I thought to be typo sent to hundreds of students, if not thousands since the university started. To my surprise, the dean emailed me directly few minutes ago and stated that it was the correct form used throughout the world... I don't doubt it but I couldn't help looking it up.
PS: I live in the US but am a native French speaker.
Answered by user414960 on February 18, 2021
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