We say "have a stroke". It's incorrect to say "have stroke".
We say "have a stroke". It's incorrect to say "have stroke".
My father had a stroke last week.
My father had stroke last week.
Most names of symptoms are countable, and singular countable nouns should be preceded by an article (a, an, the) or another determiner (this, that, my, your, his, her, etc.).
Are women more likely to have a stroke?
Follow the same strategy with the expressions "suffer a stroke", "cause a stroke", "prevent a stroke", "diagnose a stroke", etc.
Barbara suffered a stroke yesterday.
Use a determiner (any, some, those, most, etc.) to identify or quantify a group of strokes.
Most strokes are caused by a clot in a blood vessel.
But omit it to use the plural form, "strokes", in a general sense.
Strokes should be taken seriously.
A partial list of other symptom names that also take the indefinite article (a/an):
- Allergy
- Backache (The article can be omitted in British English.)
- Cold
- Cough
- Cramp/Muscle Cramp (The article can be omitted in British English.)
- Earache (The article can be omitted in British English.)
- Fever (The article can be omitted in British English.)
- Headache
- Heart attack
- Runny nose
- Sore throat
- Stomachache (The article can be omitted in British English.)
- Toothache (The article can be omitted in British English.)
