By Articles, Prepositions

CalifJim wrote:CB, I hate to disagree, because your comments are always so very helpful and appropriate, and you are such a valuable resource on the forum. Nevertheless, I don't think any poetic license whatever is involved here. Thank you for your kind words, Jim. As English is not my...

Hi,I understand Espeland's question regarding the phrase 'of a hot day' that specifically restricts the meaning of Evening since there is only one evening in a day; thus, The must be provided such as "The Evening of a Day of Walking" in Les Miserables - by Victor Hugo. In fact, I have seen...

Hi EspelandIn my example, the word evening was used much the same way that the name of a day of the week (e.g. Tuesday) or the name of a month (e.g. August) would be used. Perhaps that will help you reconcile the missing article.

Ok, I think I have to just accept that it is how it is...to me, leaving out the article was so astonishing here because in "evening of a hot day", the evening is defined. And obviously this phenomenon occurs more frequently when the abstract noun is subject or at the beginning of the sentence....

I agree with CJ.Here's another example with the word evening. I can easily imagine someone saying something like the following (in everyday English!) to refer to the fact that dusk/sunset arrived an hour earlier than usual after the clocks had been set forward an hour (Daylight Saving...

Espeland wrote:But as to the article of "evening", that astonishes me a bit.Hi EsplenadThe lack of an article may astonish others as well. That's what I really meant in my first post. Unfortunately the only person who could tell us why there is no article is dead. That's why I think we can just...

It doesn't work to omit the article with big tower because tower is a concrete noun. It works to omit the with evening because evening is an abstract noun. (You can't actually touch an evening as if it were an object.) Abstract nouns in English very frequently appear without an article,...

Thank you very much concerning the construction with "to start to..".But as to the article of "evening", that astonishes me a bit. CalifJim wrote:evening is the subject of the sentence. You certainly don't want a preposition before it! You could optionally add the, however. The evening of a...

Hello again,I've got two problems with a passage from John Steinbeck's "Of mice and men". It's the following sentence :Evening of a hot day started the little wind to moving among the leaves. (p. 2)1) Is it really possible to leave out the preposition and the article before "evening" ?2) Is there...

Hi BelieverThere is nothing exceptional in having two prepositions: He came from behind a tree. He came from under the table. If that weren't possible, how could the English say 'he came from behind a tree'?Some people use articles in some cases, some don't. I would also put the before western...