Which one of the following is grammatically correct?
Abc Country might be on the verge of a shutdown.
or,
Abc Country might be on the verge of shutdown?.
I think the second one is right.
Answer
Both are grammatical, but there is a slight rhetorical difference.
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Bare shutdown, with no determiner, is a state: it signifies an enduring property of existence. Using the word this way invites your hearers or readers to consider what it will be like to be in that state. It is intended to evoke alarm and distress: “Oh my goodness, will planes stop flying? Will the parks be closed? Will I not get my tax refund?”
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A shutdown
is an event: it signifies entering a new state of being, not the state itself. Using the word this way invites your hearers or readers to compare other events of the same sort, to consider how the event may be forestalled or if it is not, what counter-event may end it. “Yeah, yeah, 96, Frooty Nooty, Lookout Mountain was closed twenty days, been there done that.”
War works exactly the same way. Freedonia and Sylvania are on the verge of war evokes the carnage and sacrifice of warfare; Freedonia and Sylvania are on the verge of a war evokes diplomatic efforts to avert the war and the consequences of victory or defeat.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Java D , Answer Author : StoneyB on hiatus
