“hate with passion”
Does “hate with passion” sound wrong to you? Should it be “hate with a passion” instead?
One of the visitors to Pain in the English emailed us and asked if “hate with passion” is grammatically correct or not.
Here are some other similar phrases we can consider:
Sing with passion
Sing with a passion
Sing with feeling
Sing with a feeling
Say it with feeling
Say it with a feeling
When we analyze these expressions, we begin to feel that the article “a” adds some sense of specificity, like:
Sing with a passion befitting Pagliaccio!
Sing with a feeling of remorse!
Say it with a feeling of malaise!
Without the article, the word “passion” and “feeling” both remain abstract concepts.
What do you think?
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"Hate with a passion" is more common:
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=hate+with+a+passion%2Chate+with+passion%2Chate+passionately%2Cpassionately+hate&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Chate%20with%20a%20passion%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Chate%20with%20passion%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Chate%20passionately%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cpassionately%20hate%3B%2Cc0
jayles Jun-28-2018
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I think the difference is "sing" and "say" are physical things that you can do (I talk, I sing) with emotion. For example, she spoke with passion about the needs of the homeless (acted with feeling).
However, "hate" is an emotion so you really wouldn't say, I feel with feeling. So, it's more I hate with a passion.
jaxxon Jul-21-2018
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"Hate with passion" seems more appropriate to me. Different from "hate with a vengeance".
ÉricP Nov-03-2018
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Omit a
gazlight Sep-06-2019
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As 'hate' is a transitive verb, I guess the word 'hate' would need an object. I have also never heard this phrase without the indefinite article.
I also say 'I hate [something] with a passion'
CharlieW Dec-06-2019
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I think you're correct to say that including "a" in all the examples slightly changes the meaning of the phrase. Both a'ed and a-less seem grammatically fine. I would also say that "hate with a passion", specifically, is an idiomatic expression, so somewhat immune to routine rules. You done good. It ain't over till it's over.
venqax Feb-25-2021
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