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"Recently, many housing estates around town have seen a dip in home valuations."

This is the first sentence of an article. Is it because town has a specific meaning so singular form (uncountable) is used in this example? Are there other common examples like this case that we know a noun is countable but at the same time use singular form for a particular meaning? Please help cite as many examples as possible. Thanks a lot!

Lone Ly
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    Please could you include your research? Yes, a zero article is fine here. – marcellothearcane Oct 21 '19 at 12:47
  • 'Around town' is a fixed phrase, like 'up/down town' or 'at the seaside' 'Around village' / 'around city' are incorrect. It means 'in various places about town' where the town in question is understood (ie the expression is deictic). Just as 'at the seasides' is incorrect, 'around towns' is never used as a variant of the fixed phrase. However, 'around towns' is quite acceptable also, just like 'around cities' or 'around villages'. It is not a fixed phrase. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 21 '19 at 15:27
  • Thank you for your detailed explanation :) – Lone Ly Oct 23 '19 at 05:59

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It's not that town is uncountable here (although town can uncountable). It's that one particular town is implied.

When people say "around town" they mean "in various parts of the town", and they are almost always talking about one town, which is implicitly understood by the hearers. Maybe it is the town they are in, or if it is written in a local newspaper or said on a TV station then it means the town the paper is for. Or it is implied by context:

"Recently, many housing estates around town have seen a dip in home valuations" said the Mayor of Toronto when we interviewed him.

"Around towns" is valid, but it mean "in the vicinity of" towns in general.

Land prices are rising around towns in Canada.

DJClayworth
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