Timeline for What articles and when do I use with the phrase "past tense"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
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| Mar 2, 2021 at 17:41 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | I described two possible differences in meaning in the final two paragraphs of my answer (differences between the nine possible permutations of 3 examples and 3 "article types"). Note that these are not "absolute" (not everyone would recognise my distinctions), so some people might not like certain article types at all in certain contexts, AND / OR people might disagree over whether or not there's a difference in meaning for any given "stylistic choice". But there can be a lot of flexibility, and usages do change over time as well. | |
| Mar 2, 2021 at 17:26 | comment | added | x-yuri | Actually the question was specifically about sentences with "past tense." But then you said, "It's primarily a stylistic choice which kind of article to use in any given context." So I decided to confirm if it's still about sentences with "past tense," or a general statement. | |
| Mar 2, 2021 at 17:15 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | Ah. It sounds like you're thinking of the general case (not just the specific noun phrase "past tense") for whether and which kind of article to use. Yes, sometimes it makes a lot of difference to the meaning, and/or some combinations are not acceptable at all. But I don't think all of that could be adequately covered in a single ELL Answer, let alone a comment! I will just say that I personally would probably have written Let's take a couple of quotes from a Wikipedia article at the start of your question text. Your the has slightly different implications. | |
| Mar 2, 2021 at 15:47 | comment | added | x-yuri | I just wanted you to clarify one particular sentence ("It's primarily a stylistic choice..."). You did. About the rest, I'm not sure if we're talking about sentences with "past tense," or about arbitrary sentences. By "I believe..." I meant, "There must be sentences, particularly those w/o the phrase 'past tense,' where given that you want to convey a particular meaning, you've got to use a particular article. Or maybe most of the sentences are like so." | |
| Mar 2, 2021 at 12:12 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | If you already "believe there are cases where you've got to use some particular article", why didn't you post examples where we could either agree or disagree with your position. I'm not saying there aren't any such contexts (I haven't even thought about that yet) - just saying that for the three examples in your question, all three types of article (definite, indefinite, and zero) are syntactically valid. And sometimes (not always) the choice makes a difference to the meaning, as pointed out above. | |
| Mar 1, 2021 at 22:12 | vote | accept | x-yuri | ||
| Mar 1, 2021 at 22:01 | comment | added | x-yuri | About stylistic choice, is that so with "past tense," or generally? I believe there are cases where you've got to use some particular article. Also, can't "past tense" be used to mean all past forms of a language? Then example #3 would probably be correct. | |
| Feb 26, 2021 at 18:07 | history | answered | FumbleFingers | CC BY-SA 4.0 |