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

Re: Because when things are discussed in writing there is ample of time

yizhivika — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:26:43 GMT

Hi Jackson6612,

admission can be of many kinds such as admission to a university, college, flying school etc. So, shouldn't the be used in front of admission? Perhaps, it shouldn't be because Jack would know what admission Jane was talking about, otherwise he would have asked What admission?.

No, in this phrase you should omit 'the'; 'apply for admission' is a standard English phrase, that can be used in many contexts (as you've noted above), but a native English speaker wouldn't use the definite article here.

Is there really a need to use with? Often it is said I will e-mail you the pictures, I will e-mail you the number.

No, there isn't; it's optional. For me, it is simply a matter of personal preference. In fact, here, you could also say "I will email you details of the process", or "I will email you with details of the process".

I meant to say unless you have rehearsed everything beforehand or have written a note. If I'm going to speak at some occasion I can rehearse or memorize my lines or can put them down on the paper.

The phrase "unless you have rehearsed everything beforehand or have written a note." is perfectly good English, although I'd be more likely to say ".....written (some) notes." It's just that it wasn't clear from your original text, what you were meaning to say here. I simply misinterpreted it.:-)

Looking for some tips and/or curriculum suggestions

mikesusangray — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:50:11 GMT

Hi all!

I've been giving English conversation lessons to a theology professor for about a year now. He's getting on in the years - a couple years from retirement - and his primary goal has been just to get his spoken English going a little stronger. His mother tongue is French but he's been teaching at a German language university for many years.

I'd like to add some more specific inputs to our lessons but I can't seem to find the right material. His passive skills are excellent - he reads widely and with perfect comprehension in his field - and he can communicate quite understandably. He is a linguistics specialist and can grasp any concept about the language immediately. I brought along Cambridge Advanced Grammar in Use and he could plow through a chapter in five minutes with perfect conceptual comprehension.

However, he also continues to make very simple errors - for example, he has trouble choosing between present simple and continuous or often uses the present tense for past events. Sentence order tends to get wander hither and yon while definite and indefinite articles come and go with the tide. (Prepositions are a problem too, but I won't beat him to hard there - prepositions are difficult in any new language.) In many cases his mistakes are typical of French or German speech patterns.

One other limitation is that he enjoys the weekly lessons (a good hour), but doesn't have much time to study in between.

Right now we spend about 15 minutes reading a chapter from Advanced Grammar in Use and about 45 minutes talking about just about anything under the sun, while I take notes and show him problems under the categories Pronunciation/Articles & Prespositions/Word Order/Other Grammar/Vocabulary/Idioms. However, I don't think the work book is a good choice - particularly since he doesn't do the homework - and it seems like he isn't making very good progress with his typical problem patterns - though he greets them like old friends when I point them out.

Any tips here?

Re: to college/university/hospital

Believer — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 02:08:12 GMT

Thank you, Clive.

I think you were right in using an example with "I went to the sentence" in it because it is followed with a sentence stating the reason of his visiting that physical place, if you will, but if that child happens to be super smart and was going to the college, it would be appropriate to use the word 'college' without the definite article 'the'. Right? So the purpose of the sentence determines whether it is right or wrong. I am not very familiar with the use of 'resturant' in the same sense. Can you help.

Re: Canadians and their English

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 05:54:21 GMT

General Canadian English is extremely similar to General American English. However, there are a number of differences between the two dialects. Firstly, GCE (General Canadian English) exhibits a linguistic phenomenon called Canadian Raising. Basically, the diphthong âaiâ--as in "by" or "lie"--is raised before voiceless consonants (t, k, p, s, f); by contrast, this diphthong is not raised before other consonants (v, z, d, b, l, m, n, r, etc). Thus, by using Canadian Raising, the words in the following word pairs can be pronounced differently: ride and write, five and fife, and rise and rice.
The diphthong "au," as in "loud," is commonly raised before the consonants "t," "th," "ch," and "s." This diphthong is not raised before the consonants "d," "z," "n," and "j." As was pointed out, the word "about" sounds like "a boat"... well, to American ears, that is. In General American English, the diphthong "ai" is not raised before any consonant, nor is the diphthong "au." Yet, this raising has been occurring in various areas of the U.S., and it has spread quite far.

Another difference between these dialects is that, in GCE, the vowel "o" is always pronounced as "o" before the consonant "r." Therefore, âsorryâ is pronounced sor-ee, âborrowâ is pronounced bor-row, and âsorrow,â sor-row. In General American English, the vowel "o" is sometimes pronounced as the vowel "a"--as in "father"--before the consonant "r." In GAE (General American English), "sorry" is pronounced sar-ee, "borrow" is pronounced bar-row, and âsor-rowâ is pronounced sar-row. This, nevertheless, isn't very common in GAE; in fact, I canât think of any other word that is pronounced with the vowel âa,â other than sorrow, borrow, and sorry.

Many Canadians pronounce the word "marry" as "merry." In GAE, âmarryâ is pronounced with the vowel âae.â

In GCE, "pasta," "mazda," "lava," "drama," âYahooÂ®,â "taco," and other similar words are pronounced with the vowel "ae." In GAE, these words are pronounced with the vowel "a.â In GCE, on the other hand, these and few other foreign words are pronounced with the vowel "a": macho, Guatemala, Bach, and karate. Why is this so? I sure as heck don't know; it's an anomaly.

Of course, let's not forget Canadian lexicon. In Canada, "pop" is universally used as a term for a carbonated beverage. Even in the U.S., "pop" is used quite widely. It's largely used in the Midwest, Upper Midwest, and Northwest. As well, many Canadians refer to candy bars as "chocolate bars."
In GCE, the idioms "in hospital" and "to university" are used, in lieu of the American idioms "in the hospital" and "to the university," which includes a definite article. So, one may say, "I'm going to have my surgery in hospital," or "I'm going to attend university during the fall."

The last letter of the Canadian alphabet, "zed," is different from the last letter of the American alphabet, "zee."

Well, this is pretty much all I know about GCE.

Re: the "x" is different from the "Y"

Believer — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 06:28:36 GMT

Hi, Yankee,

Let me give you somewhat exact context to try to set the stage straight, so I can ask you the question more clearly.

In a tread started by Ethanw, with its name "definite article," I think he asked why there seems to be a definite noun in front of the proper nouns and one sentence among some listed was this:

The Imperial University was transformed into the current National Taiwan Universiy.

For this part of question, CalifJim said, "Imperial University and National Taiwan University could probably omit "the", but I think "the" is used in your sample sentence above for different reasons. Here you want to say that the X was changed to the Y. With "of Taiwan", however, it would definitely be the Imperial University of Taiwan."

At the beginning part of his answer that dealt with the overall question by Ethanw, he said to him, "I don't think there is a satisfactry answer to your question. The use of "the" with proper nouns is somewhat dependent on arbitrary choices."

Can you help me by telling me what CalifJim means by saying what he said? Thank you.

in (the) office

New2grammar — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 16:42:32 GMT

Bob is in the hospital => means Bob is hospitalized.

Bob is in college => means Bob is studying in a university

Bob is in (the) office => Does this sentence need a definite article to imply Bob is working in his office? I know 'his office' will do just fine but I am interested to know how 'the' is used in this case.

Re: Correct Sentence Structure

Beauty — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 01:57:25 GMT

Thanks for your input!

I still have a dilemma. Look at the following article which comes from Purdue University's on line writing lab.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslart.html

Note also that in English, the indefinite articles are used to indicate membership in a profession, nation, or religion.

I am a teacher.
Brian is an Irishman.
Seiko is a practicing Buddhist.

Over eight years of experience with a Fortune 500 brokerage firm, primarily as a Senior Support Representative, advancing to a Business Systems Analyst and subsequently to a Communications Analyst.

Does it make a difference whether the indefinite article is used to indicate membership in a profession as well as with specific professional titles?

Please advise!

optional article placement?

Believer — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 15:42:34 GMT

Hi,

I think it is stated pretty plainly that one of the possible conditions for the requirement of the definite article the is the existence of a post-modifying clause or phrase that is restrictive. From what I know, I think the articles are optional for so-called verbal nouns (I don't know it is the right term) that are nouns that have 'verb' roots when they are used for the first time eventhough they are followed with restrictive, modifying clauses or phrases.

But some things aren't so clear-cut like these ones below. Take a look at them and tell me if a definte article is optional. How can you tell whether a situation is optional or mandatory?

1. (The??) Mainstream media coverage of the Christian angle in the conflict focuses ...

Would you say the underlined part is a restrictive, modifying phrase? If so, wouldn't having the be correct if we want to apply the recommendation that seems to be given by many grammar sources?

Personally, without the seems to read better in that it conveys the message that we are talking about the coverage in general but I couldn't quite lay out the reasoning behind it not needing the definite article the there.

How about this?

2. (A or the) Knowledge in history is highly useful in his attempt to gain employment in university.

Would you say the underlined part is a restrictive, modifying phrase that normally would necessitate the placement of the or a?

As before, personally, the word 'knowledge' without any article seems to be better in that it conveys the notion of it talking about the knowledge in general but I cannot explain to myself why not having any article is the right choice and that is why sometimes I have a hard time trying to deter myself from trying to put the articles in.

Another example:

3. (The) Creativity about methods is highly encouraged.

For this one, I think both with the and without the would do the job equally well.

Do you have any suggestions that will help me see better of the things involved and navigate better in the world of English writing?

Re: quiz question I

Mister Micawber — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 13:50:31 GMT

Your additions of the definite article can certainly be correct in context, as you said-- but if the questions are stand-alone, then the test taker cannot presume outside context, and the answers of these isolated questions could only be at university and for dinner.

Does that help?

Re: Why use this word?

Jhumjhum — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 11:54:24 GMT

When you are talking about a particular university which is near Shangrilla hotel you have to use definite article 'the' .