tmn111  +  697601 Tue, 14 Apr 09 10:36 PM Which articles should I use in the following sentence? After (the?) death of the emperor she became (the/an?) empress dowager. Thanks. tmn111 Joined on Tue, Mar 3 2009 Full Member 145 Articles, Sentences

	Grammar Geek  +  697610 Tue, 14 Apr 09 10:59 PM I would use "the" for both. Unless the new emporer's grandmother is still alive, there is only one empress dowager.     Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,651 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random!

	RayH  +  697611 Tue, 14 Apr 09 11:01 PM tmn111 “Which articles should I use in the following sentence? After (the?) death of the emperor she became (the/an?) empress dowager. Thanks. ” Well, I can't claim any knowledge of how such things work in empires so I'll offer some comments that may help you clarify the meaning. First you are right about "the death", second whether you use "a" or "an" depends on whether there is more that one empress dowager. I assume only one so my guess is "the empress..." It could also be depend on the larger context of the passage you are quoting. I would have to see more of the context to be sure. RayH Joined on Sat, Mar 22 2008 Contributing Member 1,555 Native speaker of U. S. English. Not a grammar expert. Articles, Sentences, Context

	RayH  +  697615 Tue, 14 Apr 09 11:08 PM RayH “second whether you use "a" or "an" depends” Well I really botched that didn't I? Obviously it's "an" or "the" RayH “It could also be depend on” It also occurs to me that you might not need an article at all. Again depending on the context. RayH Articles, Context

	tmn111  +  697616 Tue, 14 Apr 09 11:09 PM Thanks for the replies, now I understand more the difference between the and a/an. This (I mean articles) is the worst thing for learners. It should be "the" in the second part of the sentence. tmn111 Articles, Difference Between, Sentences

	Yoong Liat  +  697876 Wed, 15 Apr 09 06:18 PM tmn111 “Which articles should I use in the following sentence? After (the?) death of the emperor she became (the/an?) empress dowager. ” I would reword your sentence as follows: After the death of the emperor, she became Empress Dowager. Yoong Liat Joined on Mon, Sep 4 2006 Veteran Member 6,757 Articles, Sentences

	macanudo  +  872847 Mon, 24 Aug 09 03:36 PM The main difference between 'a' and 'the' is that for 'the' the listener knows which object you are talking about.  But, for 'a' the listener does not know the object you are talking about.  So the correct sentence would be: After the death of the emperor she became the empress dowager. (There is only one dowager, so the listener knows exactly what you are talking about.) I just wrote a post about this that has some more explanations and some example sentences: The articles a, an, the I hope it helps!  Thanks, macanudo Joined on Mon, Aug 24 2009 Osaka, Japan New Member 04 Neal - #7 English Language Teaching Blogger Articles, Difference Between, Sentences, Speaking, Chat, Friendships