Timeline for Is it not correct to say "I have the brown eyes" instead of "I have brown eyes", and why?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
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| Jan 8, 2019 at 21:19 | comment | added | Matthew W | @Lee Daniel Crocker Interesting point. I think that mainly doesn't work because "some" implies an indeterminate number, which doesn't work so well with body parts. "I have two brown eyes" is awkward in the sense that it seems weirdly specific (unless a lot of other people in the crowd have one blue and one brown!), but not incorrect. | |
| Jan 8, 2019 at 20:49 | comment | added | Lee Daniel Crocker | "Some" often serves as the equivalent of a plural indefinite article in English, but if you told me "I have some brown eyes", I'd wonder how many and where you were keeping them. :-) | |
| Jan 8, 2019 at 17:28 | comment | added | Mari-Lou A | "Blinking my eyes" would be exactly what I would say too :) But in Italian the definite article is used for the parts of the body, so, literally, Italians will say "I broke the leg myself" (mi sono rotta la gamba (singular feminine)) The his eyes are blue (i suoi occhi sono blu (plural masculine)) | |
| Jan 8, 2019 at 16:25 | comment | added | Matthew W | The second example is incorrect. In this context, you would say "blinking my eyes". I'm not sure I can articulate a rule for why the possessive is required here. It may simply be idiomatic that the object of an action verb needs a possessive adjective when referring to a singular (or all of a plural) body part. For instance, I might "scratch an ear" or "scratch my ear", but "scratch my ears" and "scratch my left ear". | |
| Jan 8, 2019 at 16:16 | comment | added | Matthew W | Your first example is correct, although it would also be correct without the definite article. Using the definite article implies that there is only one set of penguins being marched. The definite article in the second sentence is required because the penguins being referred to have already been identified. | |
| Jan 8, 2019 at 8:48 | comment | added | Mari-Lou A | If I say “That's me, who is blinking the eyes, in the photo.” that sounds weird in English but at the same time, it is grammatical. Or is it? | |
| Jan 8, 2019 at 8:36 | comment | added | Mari-Lou A |
There is no plural indefinite article in English So, is the definite article misplaced here? “That's me, who is marching the penguins, in the photo. The penguins all come from Argentina.”
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| Jan 7, 2019 at 18:36 | history | answered | Matthew W | CC BY-SA 4.0 |