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Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2006When I must be use "the"?
I'm not sure, when I must be use "the", because I don't know when "the" belong to some sentence? Any examples, please?  SignatureWell... All comments are welcome too. > I'm not sure, when I must be use "the", because > I don't know when "the" belong to some sentence? > > Any examples, please? You'd have to provide the sentences before anyone else could make a judgment. SignatureFranke: EFL teacher & medical editor Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan. Unmunged email: /at/easypeasy.com "Impatience is the mother of misery." > I'm not sure, when I must be use "the", because > I don't know when "the" belong to some sentence? > > Any examples, please? "The" is just about the most common word in the English language, so this is a really broad question. Maybe an article discussing its various uses will help you focus on a more specific problem: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/determiners/determiners.htm#artic les SignatureBest -- Donna Richoux > I'm not sure, when I must be use "the", because > I don't know when "the" belong to some sentence? [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Well... > All comments are welcome too. Big, big, big, question. To start getting some ideas, try http://www.bankgatetutors.co.uk/articulator (but don't bother with the forum, chat or email options...) DC Most of my students have the same confusion as you. Generalluy speaking articles (a,an,the) shoudl be thought of as part of the noun. Learn you nouns with an article, so that you are accustomed to using articles with nouns. There are some instances where you do not preface a noun with an article. These are cases of special nouns and must be momorized separately. The noun "home" is an example. "I am going home." No article or preposition. We also do not use aricles before a proper noun or a pronoun. Otherwise, use an article with the noun. In regard to which article to use, the definite or indefitne article, you shoudl choose the indefinite article (a,an) when you mean just any noun of that sort. You should choose the definite article (the) when you are refering to a specific noun of that sort. Example: a television means any television among all that exist or all the are nearby. The television means a specific one that you are referring to, such as the one in the room with you. > I'm not sure, when I must be use "the", because > I don't know when "the" belong to some sentence? [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Well... > All comments are welcome too. > There are some instances where you do not preface > a noun with an article. These are cases of special nouns and must be > momorized separately. The noun "home" is an example. "I am going > home." No article or preposition. I think you are in error here. The word "home" can be a noun, a verb, an adjective, or an adverb. In the sentence "I am going home" it is an adverb, not a 'special noun'. SignatureAlec McKenzie usenet@<surname>.me.uk Thank you for the food for thought. There is always more than one way to look at grammatical structure. I prefer functional to prescriptive grammars. Functionally I intend home in this instance as a noun, as the object of the sentence, defined as person place or thing. An adjective does not serve as an object or subject. These postions must be served by a word functioning as a noun and the modifer must modify a noun if modifying the object or subject. In thsi case it cannot possibly be used as an adverb as it is not modifying the verb "going." I am going - where - (position, direction, relatoinship - to) - the answer, or object is "home." I can say I am going to the beach home, using beach as a noun modifier to the noun object "home," thus requiring an article. I cannot say, "I am going to beach (as a modifier). I am going to red (as modifier. The sentence is incomplete as the verb is transitive ande requires an object, which must be a noun. Thanks again. I did consider it, but just can't make that work. > Most of my students have the same confusion as you. Generalluy > speaking articles (a,an,the) shoudl be thought of as part of the noun. [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > Well... > > All comments are welcome too. > Thank you for the food for thought. There is always more than one way > to look at grammatical structure. I prefer functional to prescriptive [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Thanks again. I did consider it, but just can't make that work. ... My feeling is that "I'm going home" has the same syntax as "I'm going homeward", and "homeward" isn't a noun. Also, "go" is certainly not transitive and certainly doesn't require an object. Gotta go. SignatureJerry Friedman |
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