articles - Which is right and why: Why do people go (to zoos/to zoo/to the zoo)?

I couldn’t find these explanation of exactly how the rules of articles apply in questions like this:

• Why do people go to zoos?




• Why do people go to zoo?




• Why do people go to the zoo?

It’s not a question about a specific zoo, but about zoos in general.

The first variant sounds correct, but I’m not so sure about the second and third.

Are there scenarios in which both are acceptable, such as spoken English versus formal writing?

Answer

Why do people go to zoos is correct and would be my choice.

Why do people go to zoo is grammatically incorrect, because the singular "zoo" is missing an article.

Why do people go to the zoo is grammatically correct but a bit odd. Colloquially, the phrase "go to the zoo" does not imply any particular zoo; for example, the sentence "why does a person go to the zoo?" is perfectly correct. But with the plural subject "people", I think using "zoos" (plural) is more correct, unless you mean a group of people all going to the same zoo.