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common errors > company  noun, countable


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Incorrect or non-standard usage, overuse etc

I get to my company at nine o'clock.
My company is in Central.
Our company is pleased to announce a special promotion for the month of July.
I would like to enquire about your company's translation services.
I demand that your company refund my money



The problem

 


(1) A company is an organization that provides goods and / or services for a profit.
It is not used to mean 'workplace' or 'employer'.

For your place of work, you should use 'office' (or whatever word is appropriate). Or you can simply refer to the place as 'work':

I get to [work / the office] by bus
I left [work / the office] at six
I got to [work / the office] late


(2) It is not incorrect but it is not very common in British English to speak of 'our/my/your company'
When speaking or writing on behalf of the organization you work for, or when addressing someone who represents another organization, it is common simply to use the following pronouns and determiners:

'we', 'our', 'you' and 'your'

We've just opened a new branch
I was interested in your special offer



Use of 'company' in Standard English

an independent film production company...
The insurance company refused to pay...
It is Britain's biggest privatised electricity company...
She now works for a software company...
We're a small company with only 15 staff...
He was also director of a publishing company...
Mr Evans, a retired company director, told me...


Note In all of these examples, 'company' means a commercial organization. In many of them. the word is modified by an adjective or noun:

a film production company
a small company



Standard English

I get to work at nine o'clock'
I work in Central.

We are pleased to anounce that our new branch in North Point will be opened on...
I would like to enquire about your translation services....
I demand that you refund my money in full.


Dictionaries
Online dictionary links are available for the following words:


company noun MacMillanCambridgeDictionary.comWiktionary




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