Usage of such: Sorry to bother you on such (a) short notice

[Ched133]

Hi

Which one is correct?

Sorry to bother you on such short notice
Sorry to bother you on such a short notice

I’ve heard the first one being used a lot and i don’t know why the article is often omitted?

what about the following as well?

It’s such a short notice
It’s such short notice

[Mister_Micawber]

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Notice (= information) is usually uncountable in this expression (short notice) and others (e.g. give notice).

I find the version with the article odd, if not incorrect.
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[Ched133]

good point. thanks

[Gabriela]

Hi ched
both versions with the A are correct, the thing is, that you can hardly hear the “a” in the sentence as they pronounce it so fast… But they do say the “a” in it. It is the right way to say it.

Gabriela

[Molly]

I found only one example of such in the BNC.

Only three days before the match he called at James’s home, and strode into the bedroom, where James was still in bed. “Get up Alex,” he said. “You’re coming to Highbury for training because you will be playing in the replay.” He had calculated that a call to arms at such a short notice would bring out the fighting qualities in his ailing general --; and it worked.

Herbert Chapman. Football emperor. Studd, Stephen. London: Peter Owen Pubs, 1981, pp. 43-146.

But, if “such a short notice” is disallowed, why is “such a short time” allowed?

A strong, coherent and well-administered personnel strategy is where I believe IBM’s secret of success has been, is, and will continue to be. What other company could pull itself round as radically as this in such a short time ?

[Articles by a management consultant]. u.p., n.d.,

Given its success after only eighteen months, and the current plans to extend the Thameslink network, it now seems hard to believe that passengers have enjoyed the ability to cross London by regular electric BR services for such a short time .

BR in the eighties. St John Thomas, David and Whitehouse, Patrick. Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles Pubs plc, 1990

More here:

Search: SUCH A SHORT TIME

corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x.asp

[Lost_Soul]

@Molly

But if “such a short notice” disallowed, why is “such a short time” allowed?

It is not disallowed, it just sounds odd, but you can still use it.
I think in English, as in any language, including my native one, there’s so much unexplained stuff that it’s better just to learn it by heart. I gave up on explaining English long time ago, I just try to commit it to memory.

[Molly]

It is not disallowed, it just sounds odd, but you can still use it.

So can we also say “to give a notice” when wanting to terminate a person’s employment?

[Alan]

Hi Ched,

A couple of points: I would use ‘at’ rather than ‘on’ and also I would omit the indefinite article ‘a’. I would have thought if you use ‘a’ with ‘notice’ (and it still sounds odd to me), you are in a sense defining the duration or the period of ‘notice’ The expression: Sorry to bother you at such short notice is not in any way defining the length of notice but in another words simply means: I haven’t given you much warning but …

Hope this is of use.

Alan

[Molly]

The expression: Sorry to bother you at such short notice is not in any way defining the length of notice but in another words simply means: I haven’t given you much warning but …

I agree. It sounds as if it should be “Sorry to bother you at such a short notice (as this one)”, which sounds odd.

[Yankee]

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I’d say that the choice of preposition (‘on’ or ‘at’) will depend mainly on whether you’re using American or British English.

I agree that ‘(such short) notice’ is generally used without the article ‘a’:
Sorry to bother you on such short notice.
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[Molly]

@Yankee

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I’d say that the choice of preposition (‘on’ or ‘at’) will depend mainly on whether you’re using American or British English.

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I agree. The BNC gives only 3 per million words of “on short notice” against 141 per mill. words for “at short notice”.

corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x.asp

[Nessie]

Do we ever use “Sorry to bother you WITH such short notice”?

[Gabriela]

OK have to take back all I wrote about a short notice, all who said we don’t use “a” in this case were right, 3 americans explained ths to me today. … and I never knew… I just assumed as in for axample… SUCH A GOOD BOY… I thought that with NOTICE it is the same, but no, I was told DO NOT USE “A” in SUCH SHORT NOTICE… This is second thing I learned today Thanks to this forum an you all. I like this web site a lot.

[Yankee]

@nessie

Do we ever use “Sorry to bother you WITH such short notice”?

I wouldn’t use ‘with’.
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