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Hi I'm reading a sport article and saw this:

Kim Young-gwon opened the scoring for South Korea against Germany in added time.

Link to CNN article

I don't know why they used definite article because to me, it can be just "a scoring" or just no article at all "opened scoring". So I thought of the reason and guessed that the reader is already informed of this scoring in the article's beginning and the line is for the picture, making it an already-known fact for the reader so it's natural to use definite article "the" Is my guess right?

And one more question: Why using "in added time" instead of "in an added time" or "in the added time"? From what I know, I think it should be in "an" added time since it's not specified nor introduced to the reader about how much time was given.

1 Answer 1

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The scoring means "the sum total of goals scored during the entirety of the game".

There cannot be a scoring when the word has that meaning. It does not refer to a single goal.

The phrase added time is a term that means "a span of time customarily tacked onto the end of the half to account for play stoppage during the game", usually as a result of injury. It is rare that there will be no added time. Since this span of time is customarily added, we find the definite article, the, or the zero-article, simply added time, either of which can be used with something which is customary and/or known everywhere because it is universal and familiar. And the word added has acquired a specific meaning and can suffice as the specifier.

an added time would refer to a stretch of time added incidentally to the game, implying the opposite of "customary".

Compare:

The car manufacturer was introducing a new roadster. Their automotive engineers spent a lot of time tweaking the sound of the exhaust system.

A hundred years from now, when cars will no longer be running on fossil fuel, and people might no longer be familiar with internal combustion engines, as these engines might exist only in museums, you might find this sentence:

The car manufacturer was introducing a new roadster back in 2018. Their automotive engineers spent a lot of time tweaking a sound from an exhaust system, which customers back in those days found especially thrilling.

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  • Is this phrase common in British English or the sports world? It sounds weird to my ear (from the title I thought it had something to do with writing a soundtrack for South Korea), but that could easily be because it's not American or is sports jargon (or a particular sport's jargon).
    – 1006a
    Commented Jun 28, 2018 at 14:01
  • Yes, opened the scoring is a common phrase on both sides of the Atlantic, and has been in use for more than 100 years. google.com/…
    – TimR
    Commented Jun 28, 2018 at 14:11
  • As a native British English speaker but not a sports fan this sentence left me stumped, I must admit.
    – Muzer
    Commented Jun 28, 2018 at 14:14
  • Tᴚoɯɐuo, your explanation is unbelievably helpful and enlightening! Now I can understand how and when articles are used properly in those contexts. Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it:)) Commented Jun 28, 2018 at 22:24

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