The preposition withoutmeans ‘not having something’ or ‘lacking something’:
I can’t drink teawithoutmilk.
I found myself in a strange country,withoutmoney and with no one to turn to.
Whenwithoutis followed by a singular countable noun, we usea/an:
Don’t go outwithouta hat. It’s very cold.
Not:Don’t go without hat.
Without+ -ingform can also mean ‘if someone does not do something’:
I couldn’t get the picture out of the framewithoutbreakingthe glass.(if I did not break the glass)
Typical errors
We don’t omit the indefinite articlea/anafterwithout+ singular countable noun:
How can you livewithouta telephone nowadays?
Not: …without telephone…
We don’t usewithoutto mean ‘apart from’ or ‘in addition to’:
Apart frommy mother tongue, I can speak two other languages.
Not:Without my mother-tongue…
Withouthas a negative meaning. We don’t use another negative word immediately after it:
The flight was delayed and we had to wait for five hourswithoutanythingto eat or drink.
Not: …without nothing to eat or drink.