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ESL forum > Ask for help > What īs the difference?    

What īs the difference?



Nizarsouth
Tunisia

What īs the difference?
 
Hi colleagues! I want to ask you about the difference between have and eat breakfast ,lunch or dinner. our inspector says  that it īs not correct to say eat dinner or eat lunch!
we should only say have dinner, have lunch... and eat pizza for example.
What do you think? Thanks for your help.

30 Nov 2010      





el_profe55
Argentina

the use of have in this context shows more indirection. Could be seen by some as being more discrete, avoiding to directly describe the act, the eating, with is components: swallowing, etc.
but IMHO both of them are right.

30 Nov 2010     



Misspola
Argentina

Well, I would say that the thing is related to the noun. When you say dinner or breakfast you are using "abstract" nouns so "eating lunch" sounds odd althought it might be consider right . 

30 Nov 2010     



Apodo
Australia

I agree with el profe55
 
Have is more commonly used if talking in a general way, but eat can be used. I tried a few sentences below. There is a very subtle difference in the usage, but both are correct.
 
What time do you have lunch?
I have breakfast at 7am.
I usually eat a small breakfast before I go jogging.
He eats a huge lunch every day.
I īm hungry because I had breakfast very early today.
I īm hungry because I ate breakfast very early today.

30 Nov 2010     



VENETAKLI
Greece

Have is more dominant in our days with phrases such as have dinner,breakfast etc. But eat is also correct!

30 Nov 2010     



Errie
Japan

I couldn īt have said it better than Apodo.
Both are correct and very common.

1 Dec 2010     



PhilipR
Thailand

Eat lunch = have lunch.

The first one would be more prevalent in the US, the second one in the UK. Nothing wrong with either. In most cases they are just synonyms.

1 Dec 2010     



roneydirt
United States

it also goes with formal vs informal but both can be used and still be correct.

1 Dec 2010