dinner, the dinner

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Anonymous  #176031  Thu, 29 Dec 05 11:54 AM

Q: did you like dinner last night?        A: Yes, I did. The food was delicious.

I have a question about "dinner" . It is the dinner yesterday and why it isn't proceeded by "the"? Is the sentence "Did you like the dinner last night?" correct? thanks a lot.

  
paco2004  #176061  Thu, 29 Dec 05 01:02 PM
Hello

I myself would like to know the exact difference. But my feel is that "the dinner last night" means "the last night's occasion to dine" and "dinner last night" is "the meal at the dinner last night". So maybe we have to say "We attended the dinner last night" but not "We attended dinner last night". On the other hand, we have to say "We had dinner last night" but not "We had the dinner last night".

paco
  
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CalifJim  #176293  Fri, 30 Dec 05 03:19 AM
Paco's got it.
"Did you like the dinner last night?" implies that a special occasion had occurred.  Perhaps the dinner was an occasion to celebrate something.  One almost wants to add more to the sentence.  "Did you like the dinner given to the employees to celebrate our record profits this quarter?"  'dinner' is countable here.  "Our club used to arrange two dinners a month for the members.  The dinners were always accompanied by special lectures."

"Did you like dinner last night?" asks mostly about the food, although, depending on context, it may refer also to other elements associated with dinner, such as the conversation.  'dinner' here is a non-countable noun.

CJ

  
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