Search results for 'tag:Definite articles tag:Regards' matching tags 'Definite articles' and 'Regards'

a woman of an unusual beauty; [-] decent accommodation

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:13:20 GMT

Hi there,

Some nouns in English, uncountable under normal circumstances, take the indefinite article when qualified by the adjective or adverbial phrase. How do I tell if a noun should take the indefinite article or not?

Examples:

When I got back home, I took a short nap to make up for the previous night.

At the party, I met Sarah -- a woman of an unusual beauty.

Well, at least we had [-] decent accommodation.

It is alleged we have [-] false information on the fugitive.

I had a good sleep before I set out. .

When he was in Rome, he developed a deep distrust in people.

You guys ha ve a better knowledge of the English grammar, so I guess you can help me.

Best Regards,

Pawel

Re: Use of thereof in the first amendment

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:50:15 GMT

I think there are a couple way to look at this. One is the use of the word 'thereof' and what it means. It is defined as such:

thereof -adverb: of or concerning this, that or it

When the word 'thereof' is used it gets its meaning entirely from the word to which it refers. So in a sense you must ask 'Of what?' in order to understand what it means.

free exercise of what? of religion

What kind of establishment? one of religion

The indefinite articles a and an are defined as such: weakened variation of one; one, lone, single So my use of 'one' should be correct there.

Another thing you must do is put it into context. The Bill of Rights is a document which defines the rights and liberties of the people(individuals) and Congress' limitations on abridging or limiting them. If you read the phrase as such:

B) ''Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise of an establishment of religion; ...''

What are the rights of the people with regard to religion? This defines rights and liberties as they apply only to 'establishments' and not individuals. If you also use it that way then there would be no need for the Free Exercise clause. If in the Establishment Clause Congress cannot make law which even respects(concerns, regards, deals with, relates to) 'an establishment of religion' then why would they need to tell us that Congress cannot make law prohibiting 'free exercise of an establishment of religion'? We already know they cannot prohibit 'free exercise of an establishment' because they can't even make law with respect to it! I hope that makes sense.

Also, you could look at The Constitution for other examples of the word 'thereof' and see how it is used.

For example:

Article. I. - The Legislative Branch
Section 2 - The House

"When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof ..."

Executive Authority of what? 'any State'

Section 3 - The Senate

"The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, (chosen by the Legislature thereof,)"

Legislature of what? 'each State'

"...if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof"

The Executive of what? 'any State'

Section 4 - Elections, Meetings

"The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof;""

Legislature of what? 'each State'

Section 8 - Powers of Congress

"To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof,..."

Value of what? 'Money'

"To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof."

Department or Officer of what? 'the Government of the United States'

Article. II. - The Executive Branch

Section 1 - The President

"Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof..."

Legislature of what? 'Each State'

So on and so forth until...

Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;..."

Free exercise of what? 'religion'

I hope this all makes sense.

Re: culture

Cool Breeze — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:58:32 GMT

Hi Believer

Don't look for logic with regard to articles in English. Adjectival attributes very often bring on an indefinite article:
A new culture was born.

A relative clause may do the same:
We need a culture that is totally different from what we have now.

When an adjectival attribute refers to a nation or a historical period, zero article is usually used:
He takes an interest in Korean culture.
I don't like German literature.
Medieval music is very fascinating.

The is used in such cases when the reference is to things not associated with culture:
The Swedish Army has not been engaged in a battle for 200 years.
How many fleets does the French Navy consist of?
The Finnish president attended the conference.

CB

Article before proper noun+ common noun.

Sabyakgp — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 21:27:01 GMT

Dear Friends,

We don't use definite article "the" before the name of any language.
He speaks fluent english.

But when say English Language, we use "the".
A Comprehensive grammar of the English language.

I would like know why do we need to add "the" in second case.

Take another case.

The Labour party or The Conservative Party. Why do we add the before a political party? Is it a rule or is there any formula which dictates the use of "the" before proper + common nouns.

Another example:
The Iraq War.
The American civil war.

In these cases, why do we need to add "the"? Is it because "Iraq War" is a definite phrase (Everyone would know about it) and so is the American civil war?
Is there any rule that if a proper noun pre modifies a common noun we need to have "the" before it?

Please help me.

Regards,
Sabya

old question revisited

Believer — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 09:26:00 GMT

Hi,

When you use the word 'right', it is likely that you use with the definite article 'the' in front of it; which is based on the thoughts that there should be only one right anything in any moment (I think).

But it seems hard to disregard occurances where a 'the' is not used but an 'a' is used.

If you see a right person for my daughter, call me.

He seems to be a right person for the job.

Am I seeing anomaloue usage cases here or are these in normal use?

Re: You got the wrong number

Cool Breeze — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 16:30:58 GMT

Hi New

You remind me of Inchoateknowledge! I agree with you with regard to what would be more logical. The fact is, unfortunately for us foreigners, that logic and English very often have nothing to do with each other. Some expressions just exist because native speakers use them. The definite article is usually used before these words:

You've got the wrong number.
You've got the right number.
This is the same number.
This is the only number.

(Not always, though: He is an only child.)
Cheers
CB

Re: Plural or singular verb?

Magda — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 19:23:20 GMT

Thanks, Marius.
I will keep this rule in mind. What I am puzzled by, however, is the fact that either of the examples you gave me doesn't refer exactly to the sentence I gave.
In your first example, we deal with proper names, no articles there, and in the second one, with one noun in plural and the other in singular.
If I kept this rule in my sentence, I should write "He doesn't even know what an adjective and adverb are," which sounds strange to me because of the indefinite article.
Of course, I will take GG advice and write "adjectives" and "adverbs", but that doesn't clarify my doubts I had in case of the original sentence .

Best regards
Magda

Re: Tell me why use "thes" here.

Schetin — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 21:13:34 GMT

In fact, I'm at a loss, because I would use indefinite articles in this piece (a stadium, a trainer, a helping boy), but the performance since it has been introduced (A monkey is going to perform...).

Regards,

Slava

Re: definite article once more

Clive — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 22:45:33 GMT

Hi,

The only disadvantage, which is anyway concomitant of online training, is the lack of interaction.
The only disadvantage, which is anyway concomitant of online training, is lack of interaction.

I would not use a definite article before 'lack', because 'lack of interaction' is generally present in every class. I wouldn't say, in my experience, that 'lack of interaction' is a characteristic of every class. On the contrary. Maybe you and I live in different cultures in that regard.

I think you could say it with or without the article with very little difference in meaning. It's a rather subjective decision. "The', of course, makes the reference a bit more specific.

{I'd say 'concomitant with' or 'a concomitant of'}.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: not-so-definite question

CalifJim — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 06:58:23 GMT

guideline in regard to the use of an indefinite article before an countable noun

righteousness is not countable!

a here is not any different from a with other uncountable nouns. In other words, the same guidelines apply.
Whether the noun is concrete or abstract does not necessarily make any difference.

a wine = a certain kind of wine
a sugar = a certain kind of sugar
a righteousness = a certain kind of righteousness
an intelligence = a certain kind of intelligence

CJ