I was taught since primary school we don't "watch tv" but "watch tv channels / programs" since our focus is on the thing displayed rather than the tv itself. Yet, I've seen widespread usage of "watching tv" so I'm wondering is it grammatically and contextually right? Sorry if I'm asking a stupid question, but it's bothered me for a while.
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Where was your primary school? Here (in the US) I learned no proscription against "watch TV". For this forum, you should do some research first, and report your results in your question. – GEdgar May 21 '18 at 10:18
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2Possible duplicate of "watching the television" or "watching television"? – Mari-Lou A May 21 '18 at 10:22
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1I know there's hardly any mention of "programs" in the link above but you can see that your teacher was mistaken. Maybe he or she wanted the class to write more descriptive sentences. I don't know. – Mari-Lou A May 21 '18 at 10:26
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2There seem to be quite a few teachers (and others) who present their stylistic preferences as "rules". (A lot of teachers apparently still do that annoying "I don't know, can you?" thing when a pupil asks, "Can I leave the room?".) – May 21 '18 at 10:45
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1'I watch TV channels' sounds outlandish to the point of being unacceptable. 'I often watch the News Channel' is fine. 'I often watch TV in the evening' is totally idiomatic; it is a transferred usage like 'She had a quiet pint', 'The disastrous fire was started by a careless match' or 'It was a proud day for his parents'. 'We waited for the kettle to boil' is another variant (metonymy). – Edwin Ashworth May 21 '18 at 11:25
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Don't watch TV, it rots your mind. – David Jun 01 '18 at 22:17
