In American English, we typically use the expressions “on vacation”, “being on vacation”, or “going on vacation” (without the article “a”) to refer to a period of time (away from school or work) to relax or travel.

When talking about the first meal of the day, we say “have breakfast” (not “have a breakfast”).

We commonly use the expression “have dinner” (not “have a dinner”) to refer to the main meal eaten either in the middle of the day or in the evening.

We use the expression “have lunch” (not “have a lunch”). However, when using an adjective or a compound noun, we add a determiner (typically the article “a”) before the noun.

The expressions “go to the dentist”, “see a dentist”, and “visit a dentist” are often interchangeable and commonly used in everyday English.

The expressions “go to the doctor” or “see a doctor” are pretty common and often interchangeable.

“Go to bed” means “go to sleep”. "Going to the bed" simply means going to where the bed is. We never use this phrase to mean “going to sleep”.

When talking about activities or occupations, we do not use the article “the” or “a” before the noun “work”.

British students go "to university" (not "to the university") to obtain a higher education degree.