It's a/the title of a movie

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Kooyeen

#413795 Mon, 03 Sep 07 10:35 PM

Hi,
I've got some problems.

Scary Movie. It's a/the title of a movie.
Daisy. It's a/the name of a flower.
Etc.

I understand that when you say, for example, "It's the title of the movie", you are talking about a specific movie, and when you say "It's a title of the movie" you are considering one of the titles a specific movie could have... But when I am talking in general and I have structures like the above, what should I do? I think either way is ok (a/the), even though I feel "the" might be more common.

Thanks a lot in advance Smile [:)]

Kooyeen

Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005

Italy

Senior Member (4,072)

If you don't have a sense of humor already, it's about time you buy one.

Ant_222

#413802 Mon, 03 Sep 07 10:52 PM

Hello, Kooyeen.

I think "the name" is the right choice.

— What's Quazatron?
— It the name of a computer game.

It doesn't matter whether you say "a movie" or "the movie" — the movie has only one name anyway.

Ant_222

Joined on Sun, May 21 2006

Podolsk, Russia

Contributing Member (1,584)

Philip

#413842 Tue, 04 Sep 07 12:46 AM

Kooyeen wrote:
Hi,
I've got some problems.

Scary Movie. It's a/the title of a movie.
Daisy. It's a/the name of a flower.
Etc.

I understand that when you say, for example, "It's the title of the movie", you are talking about a specific movie, and when you say "It's a title of the movie" you are considering one of the titles a specific movie could have... But when I am talking in general and I have structures like the above, what should I do? I think either way is ok (a/the), even though I feel "the" might be more common.

Thanks a lot in advance

Each movie/flower has only one name: "the". If by chance a flower has more than one name, "a" or "one" would be appropriate.

Philip

Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005

USA Pacific Northwest (Seattle)

Veteran Member (6,328)

At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen

Kooyeen

#414151 Tue, 04 Sep 07 06:27 PM

Philip wrote:

Each movie/flower has only one name: "the". If by chance a flower has more than one name, "a" or "one" would be appropriate.

Thanks Philip.
But... if you can say "It's a title", why can't you say "It's a title of a movie"?
In order to build our little nuclear weapon, we need some beans, a rubber band, a needle, a piece of paper and a/the handle of a door. Then we just need to send it to MacGyver, he knows what to do.

I understand "the X of a Y" is probably better and more common, but I don't think "a X of a Y" is completely weird, is it?
Thanks again Smile [:)]

Kooyeen

Linguaphile

#414152 Tue, 04 Sep 07 06:34 PM

Kooyeen wrote:

But... if you can say "It's a title", why can't you say "It's a title of a movie"?

X is a title of a Y. [= X has more than one title.]

X is the title of a Y. [= X has only one title]

"Cockroach" is the name of an insect.

A cockroach is a large brown insect.

Linguaphile

Joined on Tue, Jul 17 2007

Turkey

Full Member (140)

Kooyeen

#414159 Tue, 04 Sep 07 06:49 PM

I see it differently. There's more than one X if I say:
It's a X of the Y.
not if I say:
It's a X of a Y.

I'm confused... Hmm

Kooyeen

Ant_222

#414273 Tue, 04 Sep 07 11:47 PM

«I see it differently. There's more than one X if I say:
It's a X of the Y.
not if I say:
It's a X of a Y.»

You are not right. In both cases there's more than one X.

If some writer was published under different pseudonyms, you can say:

"It is a pseudonym of a famous writer", meaning he had more than one pseudonym.

Otherwise (one pseudonym) you should use "the".

Hope that helps.

Ant_222

Kooyeen

#414296 Wed, 05 Sep 07 01:00 AM

Hi,
who told you so? I understand that "the X of a Y" ("the name of a flower") sounds best, but I don't believe "a X of a Y" implies that there is more than one X for every Y. I just asked a native speaker, they told me that's not true, and that I can say "Daisy is a name of a flower, cow is a name of an animal."
Does anybody have any thoughts? Thanks again Smile [:)]

Kooyeen

Ant_222

#414305 Wed, 05 Sep 07 01:16 AM

Hello, Kooyeen:

«...but I don't believe "a X of a Y" implies that there is more than one X for every Y»

It implies that there may be more than one X for Y.

«ݖI just asked a native speaker, they told me that's not true, and that I can say "Daisy is a name of a flower, cow is a name of an animal."»

Who told it? Phillip wrote:
«If by chance a flower has _more_ than one name, "a" or "one" would be appropriate.»

Ant_222

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