Vocabulary · Free lesson
Travel, trip, and journey: choose the noun
Your weekend visit lasted two days, but getting there took three hours. Choose words that show which part you mean.
Professor Scott MendozaThe short answer
Travel names the general activity: Travel can be tiring. A trip can include a visit and its activities. A journey highlights getting from one place to another. Trip and journey are countable; do not use a travel for one ordinary trip.
Activity, visit, or movement?
Use travel without a or a regular plural when talking about the activity generally. Use a trip for a particular visit: a weekend trip, two business trips. Journey is useful when the movement itself is your focus: the journey there. Trip can also describe that movement, so the two countable words can overlap.
Compare the examples
My work involves frequent travel.
We took a weekend trip to the coast.
The journey there took three hours.
Travel is also a verb: We traveled by bus. This lesson mainly compares the nouns.
Build the meaning step by step
Name the whole visit
Our trip lasted two days.
Name the time getting there
The journey there took three hours.
Try it now
Choose the noun form
Read all answers and explanations
Talk about the activity generally: My job involves a lot of ___.
travelTravel names the general activity without a. Trip would need a suitable countable form such as trips.
Choose the natural phrase for one weekend visit.
a weekend tripA trip counts one occasion. Travel does not take a in this meaning.
Keep journey and describe two separate movements between places.
two journeysJourney is countable, so two requires journeys.
Put it into practice
Explain your weekend trip
Your visit lasted two days. Getting there took three hours. Answer without changing those facts.
- Alex
How long was your visit?
See a model answer
- Alex
How long was your visit?
- You
Our trip lasted two days.
- Alex
How long did it take to get there?
- You
The journey there took three hours.
The trip there took three hours is also accepted. Meaning and accurate facts matter; the exercise does not reject that valid alternative.
A little more clarity
Common questions
A few useful details before you move on.
Can travel be a verb?
Yes. With a subject, it can describe the action. In American spelling, write traveled with one l.
We traveled by bus.
Must a trip be short?
No. Length alone does not decide the word. Context can describe a short or long trip.
They planned a long trip across the country.
Take it into your day
General travel; one trip or journey. Let context show the focus.
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