Timeline for definite or indefinite article here?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 11, 2016 at 4:46 | answer | added | Alan Carmack | timeline score: 2 | |
| Aug 11, 2016 at 3:09 | comment | added | P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica | @whitedevil All right then. Take your sentence above: The tiger, who died promptly before James died, was the representation of James. I might write that if what I meant were: The tiger was the very image of James. On the other hand, if I wrote: The tiger, who died promptly before James died, was a representation of James. ... I might mean The tiger, among other animals, was a representation of James. | |
| Aug 11, 2016 at 2:30 | comment | added | whitedevil | @P.E.Dant Oh, not rules. Just nuance. | |
| Aug 11, 2016 at 2:28 | comment | added | P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica | @whitedevil RIght, slightly, but in a larger sense neither right nor wring. You seem to be hoping for rules where there are none. In many cases, the choice of article is the writer's, based upon context, rhythm, style, or even whim. | |
| Aug 11, 2016 at 2:07 | comment | added | whitedevil | @P.E.Dant Please see above :) I want your explanation for this, if possible. | |
| Aug 11, 2016 at 2:06 | comment | added | whitedevil | ...the kind of context. Am I right? | |
| Aug 11, 2016 at 2:05 | comment | added | whitedevil | @AlanCarmack Is it a similar example? "teacher is pointing at a/the written topic on the white board.". I think both are acceptable, with "the" emphasizing that this is the topic she is pointing at, regardless of how many topics there are, and "a" providing the sense that there may be more than one topic on the whiteboard, but is used because there is no intention to emphasize. Also this: "it is hard to derive a perfect understanding from a/the context". "The" emphasizes that context in the sentence is the one you are trying to gain a perfect understanding from, while "a" is generalizing... | |
| Aug 11, 2016 at 0:05 | comment | added | P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica | @whitedevil Only you can know the answer! Is the tiger only one of several representations of James? Then "a" is correct. Is there no other rerepresentation? Then "the" is correct. Only you know the context. | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 23:43 | comment | added | Alan Carmack | Both interpretations are correct, except I would say a representation implies that there may be (not are) other representations. (In general, this whole guideline of first mention is only correct sometimes. Go read any modern English text and count how often the is used when a noun is a 'first mention'. It's less than 1/3 of the time, I believe.) | |
| Aug 10, 2016 at 23:30 | history | asked | whitedevil | CC BY-SA 3.0 |