[title]Family quotes[/title] [description]Welcome to our family quotes section! Here you'll find some of the funniest (and wisest) quotes on the subject of family life![/description]
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Latest post Fri, Jan 26 2007 10:21 PM by Clive. 5 replies.
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Joey_five  +  320165 Fri, 26 Jan 07 08:06 AM

Hi, which of the following sentences should be considered correct??

1a) The lady with red hair is my neighbour.

1b) The lady with the red hair is my enighbour.

2a) The lady in red dress is my teacher.

2b) The lady in the red dress is my teacher.

3a) The old man in the red car is my boss.

3b) The old man in red car is my boss.

It seems 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b and 3a are correct but not 3b. Am I correct??

Thanks

Joined on Mon, Oct 10 2005
Full Member 105
Inchoateknowledge, 2 yr 304 days ago
all are fine
milky  +  320178 Fri, 26 Jan 07 09:22 AM

 Inchoateknowledge wrote:
all are fine

?? 2a) The lady in red dress is my teacher.

?? 3b) The old man in red car is my boss.

Joined on Thu, Jan 15 2004
Senior Member 3,149
Hume said that if we had perfect or complete descriptive knowledge of reality, we could not, by reasoning, derive a single valid "ought".
victorycountry  +  320197 Fri, 26 Jan 07 10:25 AM

2a) The lady in red dress is my teacher => it needs 'the' before the 'red dress' because the speaker is talking about a lady who is already known. Besides, in this case 'red dress' is a countable noun.

3b) the same here. It needs 'the' before the 'red car'.

Both sentences, they sound not right without 'the'.

Joined on Sat, Oct 16 2004
Full Member 313
Goodman  +  320432 Fri, 26 Jan 07 09:41 PM
 Victorycountry wrote:

2a) The lady in red dress is my teacher => it needs 'the' before the 'red dress' because the speaker is talking about a lady who is already known. Besides, in this case 'red dress' is a countable noun.

3b) the same here. It needs 'the' before the 'red car'.

Both sentences, they sound not right without 'the'.

 I agree!

There are times articles are not needed, i.e. Women in high heels and short skirts usually get a lot of attention.  In general statement like this, no article is needed.

Joined on Mon, Nov 7 2005
Senior Member 3,816
The name says it all!
Clive  +  320443 Fri, 26 Jan 07 10:21 PM

Hi guys,

The lady in the red dress is my teacher.

This sentence makes me think that we are looking at more than one lady, and that only one of these ladies is wearing a red dress. In fact, it suggests to me that more than one lady may be wearing a dress, but that only one of the dresses is red. 

Compare sentences like -

The lady is my teacher.

The lady in the dress is my teacher.

The lady in red is my teacher.

Best wishes, Clive

Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004
Canada
Veteran Member 29,663
El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo
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