Search results for 'tag:Indefinite articles tag:Paragraphs' matching tags 'Indefinite articles' and 'Paragraphs'

Re: Please correct my essay thanks my friends!!

26TMNTJG2PG — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:28:04 GMT

Dipsik
Could you please explain to me why you didnÂ´t correct the indefinite article before the word kids (second paragraph, first line)?

You are right the 'a' before 'kids' should not be there. I missed out. Thank you. The original poster, please note.

Dipsik
I would also write seriously, instead of the word "serious" you used (the latter is only used in informal English - at least as far as I know...)

The part in question is

"The streets practically were practically flooded but not serious enough to cause a total flooding or some any tragedy" and you have a point here as 'seriously' will be another adverb modifying the verb 'were flooded' but I used the adjective there to be illiptical for 'the floods were not serious enough' to be natural.

Re: Please correct my essay thanks my friends!!

Dipsik — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:40:11 GMT

Hi 26TMNTJG2PG,

Could you please explain to me why you didnÂ´t correct the indefinite article before the word kids (second paragraph, first line)?
I would also write seriously, instead of the word "serious" you used (the latter is only used in informal English - at least as far as I know...)

Re: Why indefinite articles?

Ant_222 — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 22:42:27 GMT

«A» anyway:

«This certain cell contains a cat and a few mice.»

(© Nona)

What about this one:
«Every (or this) paragraph contains the first and the last sentences.»

Re: Why indefinite articles?

Believer — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 21:54:26 GMT

Thank you Nona and Jim.

The thrust?? of my inquiry lies with the article usage with such terms as "beginning" and "ending." Whenever I see a word preceded with such a term, instinctively I try to put the article "the" unless my close scrutiny shows it otherwise. I think my confusion is being further fueled by the fact that we normally associate a with the concept of one, in addition to the notion of it being an indefiite article, and when I see the sentence like the one below, it having a makes me concentrate too much on the "one" concept. Help me to set what seems to be a misguided perception straight.

The essay contains a/the beginnig paragraph, a/the middle paragraph, and an/the ending paragraph.

Let me tweak it a little and ask you this way. How is this sentence in this context different from the one above?

A teacher has a packet of papers to grade. Among the papers are the best paper, the second best paper and the worst paper.

Here, even an item in the list is being introduced for the first time, it is still being modified with the definite article the. What's your thought on this.

Re: Why indefinite articles?

CalifJim — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 16:28:44 GMT

When introducing the contents of something, the parts of something, or listing the components of something for the first time, we use the indefinite. That's because we are not referring back to each particular element of the list as a particular, unique object in the universe. We are only giving a generic idea of certain types of things.

Next to the plate were a knife, a fork, and a spoon. (No particular knife, fork, or spoon mentioned earlier.)
The refrigerator contained a bottle of milk and a stick of butter. (Etc.)
There was a paragraph at the beginning of the essay, a paragraph in the middle of the essay, and a paragraph at the end of the essay.
Inside the house was a small kitchen. (No particular kitchen mentioned earlier.)
The letter contains a reference to the prime suspect in the case.
This box contains a key and a paper clip.
The menu had a grouping for fish dishes, a grouping for chicken dishes, and a grouping for beef dishes.

CJ

Re: Why indefinite articles?

Maple — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 15:36:23 GMT

Could it help a little to read it this way?

This essay, just like many other short literary compositions, contains a beginning paragraph, a middle paragraph and an ending paragraph.

Re: Why indefinite articles?

Inchoateknowledge — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:57:48 GMT

This is all very well, but begining paragraphs there are many.
The begining paragraph of each law in the civil code.

Why indefinite articles?

Believer — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:51:29 GMT

Look at the sentence below please and tell me why the writer of this sentence made what looks to be a choice to modify the nouns with an indefinite article.

This essay contain a beginning paragraph, a middle paragraph and an ending paragraph.

Would it be wrong to modify them all with a definite article, like this? I feel very strongly and am pretty sure (Ha ha) that there is only one beginning paragraph, one middle paragraph and one ending paragraph for this particular essay.

This essay contain the beginning paragraph, the middle paragraph, and the ending paragraph.

Re: I have bad punctuation skills:Please help me

LanguageLover — Sun, 10 Jul 2005 11:57:59 GMT

Hi Chintu, welcome to the Forums,

First of all, here is the wrong place for your post . Try to repost it to the writing section where it can get more attention from people who are interested in correcting others' writings. But here are a few hints: try to write your article using the Microsoft "word", the mistakes regarding the space after a comma, period, ... would be underlined along with spelling errors and some basic grammatical errors. You have to pay nore attention to punctuation, articles, word order, paragraph development, .... For example, your sentences are not bound with each other in the way that they should in a paragraph, they seem rather independant from each other.

You can easily make new friends

You will see that as soon as you invite a few friends to your site, they will in turn invite a few others.

You can easily make new friends by inviting your friends to the site, who in turn invite their own friends, so uou'll have a community of old and new friends after a short time.

Your first step towards successful online business is: A website

You need the indefinite article "a" before "successful", I don't think that you need a colon after "is" to introduce your subject of interest, you can type "website" in a bold, italic, a different font colour,or a bigger font to emphasise.

Do not forget to read your writing before handing it in, you'll get a better result by doing it in a later time. With rereading your writing you can avoid mistakes like the following:

Your online friends can meet you as and when they wish

Good luck with your writings. Don't lose your hope, you can easily overcome these problems by reading a good reference guide to writing, which you won't find it difficult to spot some on the net.

Cheers,

Re: Please help me

Timbo — Tue, 20 Apr 2004 06:55:00 GMT

It is a little difficult to correct without seeing the context of the whole paragraph. I see 2 points.

1/ Your text ....'and replaced by the new GPS based technology such as a RTK'....etc.

The text contains the definite article 'the new GPS..' then it reads... 'such as a (indefinite article) RTK'...etc

The definite article is attached to the qualified noun (new GPS), so you have to indicate what the new noun is...the RTK. (this is based on the assumption that there is only one RTK system, if there is 2 or more, the noun RTK must be qualified, such as new or latest etc.)

2/ I have inserted a comma as indicated below.

The only other word I have doubts with is the word 'trust'. I assume you mean that the operator of the vehicle would have more trust, or feel more comfortable knowing that the steering was being guided by a RTK system rather than the earlier system. You have not indicated what 'they' are, that which is being phased out.

Therefore the corrected text should read:

'However, they are being gradually phased out and replaced by the new GPS based technology such as the RTK (real time kinematics) system, in order to give more trust and less maintenance to Auto Steering System.'

Hope this helps. Sorry if it is a little complex, wherever possible, I endeavour to explain why the changes are needed.