0
Nkspb Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
A case of missing the definite article before an object of a sentence
Hello everybody!
I am perplexed with one thing a lot
While reading lots of English stuff I stumbled upon sentences where by logic the definite article should be used but for some reason it wasn't.
"The researches asked participants to..." and then another sentence goes "They also asked participants...", what seems ungrammatical to me because the participants have already been mentioned.
Maybe this is just a kind of scientific/technical text here where the articles are often omitted, making sentences plain though grammatically incorrect? Or it is correct, because the noun "participants" is used in its general sense without referring to exact people in that room but to the idea of them and in such contexts it is allowable (I know I made it too hard I just try to explain as good as I can)
The particular example I'm interested in is this:
"There were many people in the room. The anchor started to ask (the?) people what they wanted to talk about."
Are they both grammatical ways of saying it? And which one is more frequently used? Thanks for any help in advance.
I am perplexed with one thing a lot
While reading lots of English stuff I stumbled upon sentences where by logic the definite article should be used but for some reason it wasn't.
"The researches asked participants to..." and then another sentence goes "They also asked participants...", what seems ungrammatical to me because the participants have already been mentioned.
Maybe this is just a kind of scientific/technical text here where the articles are often omitted, making sentences plain though grammatically incorrect? Or it is correct, because the noun "participants" is used in its general sense without referring to exact people in that room but to the idea of them and in such contexts it is allowable (I know I made it too hard
I just try to explain as good as I can) The particular example I'm interested in is this:
"There were many people in the room. The anchor started to ask (the?) people what they wanted to talk about."
Are they both grammatical ways of saying it? And which one is more frequently used? Thanks for any help in advance.
Top answer
", what seems ungrammatical to me because the participants have already been mentioned Even for specific or previous mention, plural countable nouns can often do without the definite article, so native writers omit it nkspb The particular example I'm interested in is this:"There were many people in the room. " Either will work.
- ", what seems ungrammatical to me because the participants have already been mentioned Even for specific or previous mention, plural countable nouns can often do without the definite article, so native writers omit it nkspb The particular example I'm interested in is this:"There were many people in the room.
- " Either will work.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
3 Answers
0
nkspbThe researches asked participants to..." and then another sentence goes "They also asked participants...", what seems ungrammatical to me because the participants have already been mentionedEven for specific or previous mention, plural countable nouns can often do without the definite article, so native writers omit it
nkspbThe pa
00
Thanks for the help Another native speaker said that without the article it would be wrong, ohh..
Another native speaker said that without the article it would be wrong, ohh..00
nkspb What should I make of it?That the other native speaker is overly prescriptive.
0
Related Questions