Liat, We can alter the context to fit the word, and vise versa. I am afraid of the dog (next door ) . I dare not go near it. It looks fierce . THen, I'll buy that! But- without "next door" to modify the finite article, I

<< They wouldn't pin themselves down to a definite date. >> This's fine. This means they refuse to commit themselves to a specific date. But " to pin down something" has an entirely different meaning.

We definitely didn't have the same perspectives. "I am afraid of the cockroach." - This does have an odd ring to it.

My take: #1) I can't pin down the date. Not "pin her down". #2) Sounded ok to me. # 10 can be any of the choices. The others are ok.

ALso get the pronoun straight. He/ his She/ her

<<<Then you have to say " The cockroach is the most bla bla bla...">>> I may be wrong but I disagree. "The" in this context is a finite article and we are talking about "cockroach" as a species

Auto accident rate is getting higher.

There is an airplane flying across the sky. There is an airplane flying through the clouds.

Girls are usually afraid of cockroach . Plurla is not typically needed because you are referring cockroach as a collective noun. The same can be said " Cockroach is the most amazingly adaptable insect in the world".

quote user="tinanam0102"]If you were talking about the internal walls (walls separating the rooms inside the house), either you were physically in, or outside the house at the time of having the conversation with the contractor around