Hmmm. I thought that a + singular countable noun was the same as zero article + plural countable noun. You're absolutely right. The original sentence may have led the hobbits to go looking for others' dirty hands to wash because

I think he is saying that he usually doesn't bring the bow along while he is prowling the streets. He doesn't mention if he brings them to dates or not. ~Miss Mandy

Haha, you gave me a funny picture in my head. If you told Paul to wash a weary face, he would probably be looking around for someone else's weary face to wash because you can't tell him to wash his own face that way; a tells the listener

This debate really seems to be about two different things, spelling and pronunciation. The letter w (and y) is often used with other vowels (and sometimes alone as well) in spelling to reperesent a vowel sound . In the words hi and by , the letter

All of your sentences are correct. The difference between them is that the -ing endings give the idea that the action was of a longer duraction in comparison to the other events that were happening. If you were mentioning to a friend that you saw

I think most native speakers have no trouble deciding to use an article or not. Some people may stumble over choosing a or the once in a while, but not usually. However, as a teacher, I sure with it were clearer than it is! ~Miss Mandy

Anton, You're right, it is not just poetic license. The author is making a non-count noun into a count noun by adding an article. He is being specific about this air for some reason. I think you're right on to think of it as a

Unless you are talking about specific hands, you do not need an article of any sort. Generic plurals just don't need articles. I would guess that the author was looking for poetic writing, or else he would have probably added the pronoun

CJ is right, the only way to know for sure is to ask someone you trust. I introduce all of my students to the Merriam Webster online dictionary for pronunciation because I have found them to have the best searchable audio clips, and they speak as

I think you're right on, Kooyeen. And thanks for the reply. I am a stickler in my pronunciation classes that students learn to say the -s (and -ed) endings correctly. Even though I do this, I know that native English speaking Americans rarely