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 Kooyeen Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005 Italy Veteran Member 5,199 I'm on your internets, degrading your language with my ignorance and apathy

	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 1,742

	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 Veteran Member 9,281 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 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 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