KateLee  +  575363 Sat, 11 Oct 08 07:21 AM Such extreme cases must probably be taken with a grain of sault, but they do underline the general principle that the relationship between elephant and mahout is the key to successful training.   Why no articles before “elephant” and “mahout”? (What if I change it into “between the elephant and its mahout”?)   Thanks in advance! KateLee Joined on Tue, Jul 1 2008 New Member 06 Articles, Underline

	richard_s  +  575409 Sat, 11 Oct 08 12:04 PM It is probably more common to put the article before those two, but it can be omitted when talking about things in general under some circumstances.  I'm pretty sure there is an explanation of this situation in 'Advanced Grammar in Use' - a pretty popular book all over the world.  I don't have a copy of it on hand to check.  Maybe somebody else does, or knows the rules off the top of their head... richard_s Joined on Sun, Oct 5 2008 Junior Member 65 Richard Stevenson IELI, Sturt Campus Flinders University, South Australia Articles, Grammar