ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: Why the past perfect?

CalifJim — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 17:14:34 GMT

The roach-infested environment (roach being countable)

The greed-infested mind (greed being uncountable)

Are these a case in point for your statement (??)that said "The pattern of two articles in a row is not used in English"?

Yes, if you were thinking that one the was needed for roach and another the for environment. That is, the the roach-infested environment would be wrong. Likewise for the the greed-infested mind.

CJ

Re: Why the past perfect?

Believer — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 12:01:06 GMT

CalifJim wrote:
1. <<the people of France sided with Sarkozy. That's because the French, who until now had used violent protests to counter government-led labor reforms, felt a heightened sense of crisis regarding the future of their country>>
Past point of view: ... the people ... sided with Sarkozy ... because the French ... felt a ... sense of crisis ...
Something that happened before the siding with Sarkozy and before the French felt a sense of crisis: The French had used violent protests. [Do not take 'now' literally; 'until now' means 'until this point in the narrative'.]

2. << a New York Times-CBS-MTV survey>> New York Times (together with CBS and MTV) is being used as an adjective to tell us what kind of survey was conducted. The article has to apply to the noun survey. It is a survey conducted by The New York Times, CBS, and MTV. The pattern of two articles in a row is not used in English. You can't have a The New York Times survey, for example.   The second article is always dropped in these cases. Even if you see the phrase the New York Times survey, the The in The New York Times is dropped. the goes with survey, not with New York Times, because you can't have the The New York Times survey.

Thank you.With my previous compliment still standing, I have this question. I thought about starting a new thread but since I am not that good at quoting, I have decided to attach it to this one. I am going to use both an uncountable noun and a countable noun in an adjectival way. I hope you would be able to help me.

The roach-infested environment (roach being countable)

The greed-infested mind (greed being uncountable)

Are these a case in point for your statement (??)that said "The pattern of two articles in a row is not used in English"?

3. <<we're centrist. ... <>Why ~~the word 'centrist' does~~ does the word 'centrist' not have an article? >>It's an adjective. We're tired. We're happy. We're centrist. (centrist: having political beliefs that are not particularly rightist or leftist.)

CJ

Re: Why the past perfect?

Believer — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 11:35:28 GMT

Thank you, CalifJim.

That was a very focused response -- very good, thank you. After reading your responding post, I thought I was having this quizzical feeling that my original title to the thread might need a second title to accompany the first and that might be worded "Why are his responses nearly perfect?"

Re: Why the past perfect?

CalifJim — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 07:53:59 GMT

1. <<the people of France sided with Sarkozy. That's because the French, who until now had used violent protests to counter government-led labor reforms, felt a heightened sense of crisis regarding the future of their country>>
Past point of view: ... the people ... sided with Sarkozy ... because the French ... felt a ... sense of crisis ...
Something that happened before the siding with Sarkozy and before the French felt a sense of crisis: The French had used violent protests. [Do not take 'now' literally; 'until now' means 'until this point in the narrative'.]

2. << a New York Times-CBS-MTV survey>> New York Times (together with CBS and MTV) is being used as an adjective to tell us what kind of survey was conducted. The article has to apply to the noun survey. It is a survey conducted by The New York Times, CBS, and MTV. The pattern of two articles in a row is not used in English. You can't have a The New York Times survey, for example. The second article is always dropped in these cases. Even if you see the phrase the New York Times survey, the The in The New York Times is dropped. the goes with survey, not with New York Times, because you can't have the The New York Times survey.

3. <<we're centrist. ... <>Why ~~the word 'centrist' does~~ does the word 'centrist' not have an article? >>It's an adjective. We're tired. We're happy. We're centrist. (centrist: having political beliefs that are not particularly rightist or leftist.)

CJ

Re: Why the past perfect?

Believer — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 06:59:21 GMT

Thank you, Feebs11.

I think when you said "a constituent part of their title," you are making a distinction from "a general, grammatical part of their title"; and I think/believe if you see the names most of such newspapers in their normal grammatical context, you will likely see "the" as part of the names

Re: Why the past perfect?

Feebs11 — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 09:00:41 GMT

Most newspapers do not have "The" as a constituent part of their title. "The Times [ of London]" is the notable exception. Is is technically the New York Times, the Guardian, the Evening News.

"centrist" is being used as a general descriptor of a political stance

Why the past perfect?

Believer — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 06:56:04 GMT

Hi,

1. On the Thursday, May 10, 2007 issue of the Korea Herald in its Editorials/Opinion page, I saw this paragraph in the article titled "Paths taken by European nations and Korea":

In the race between the two candidates, the people of France sided with Sarkozy. That's because the French, who until now had used violent protests to counter government-led labor reforms, felt a heightened sense of crisis regarding the future of their country, which has degenerated into the "sick man" of Europe.

2. I also want to ask some questions on the article titled "Raising a political bigot," which was on the Tuesday, August, 2007 issue of the Korea Herald in its Opinon page.

As a New York Times-CBS-MTV survey demonstrated in June, we lean left on many issues, such as gay rights and health-care coverage.

Can you tell me where did 'the' for 'the New York Times' go if the newspaper has 'the' as part of its name? I thought the name most newspapers have 'the'.

Another sentence from the mentioned or said article:

It's not necessary that we're centrist. We're just eclectic.

Why the word 'centrist' does not have an article?

It's not necessary