A gun

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Hi.A question.On page 1, I describe a man who shoots another man with a gun.On page 20 or 30, the man who fired that gun meets his victim.I write: 'He looks at the man closer and sees it was the man he once shot with a gun'.I know that the rules say: once you introduce a noun, subsequent mentioning calls for 'the'. 'He sees a gun on the floor. He picks up the gun.' Et cetera.So in my example, it should theoretically be "the gun". But it just seems better with the indefinite article. I think it deemphasizes it a bit. It becomes 'he once shot with some gun'. 'The' sounds odd so many pages later. Can I do that or would that be necessarily a mistake?Thank you,Andy

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

AndyOrbanSo in my example, it should theoretically be "the gun".

No. The gun is not identified anywhere in such a way that it distinguishes this gun from any other gun. It's not like one gun is named "Chuck" and another is named "Bob" and you have to make sure in your story that the reader knows you're talking about "Bob" and not "Chuck". The focus of discussion is the men, not the gun. "the" is therefore not a good idea.

Besides, you're 20 or 30 pages away from the previous reference to any gun (I imagine), so any rules about previous reference are, in effect, nullified. If I say "the man" three years after I last referred that particular man, my listener is probably not going to connect the dots and realize who I'm talking about.

CJ

AndyOrban · Answer

Thank you, CalifJim.

Anonymous · Answer

In the context given, the sentence, "He looks closer and...shot with a gun.", is correct. You cannot use "the gun" in this sentence. There are some very general rules for using the definite and indefinite article, but there are many exceptions to these rules that have to be learned by experience.

For example, the "once you mention the noun, you then have to use the definite article" rule can be broken. For example, "He sees a gun on the floor. He picks up the gun.", but: He see a gun on the floor. He has use for a gun, so he picks it up." and: "He sees a gun on the floor. A gun in the room will incriminate him, so he picks it up and hides it in his coat pocket." and: "He sees a gun on the floor. This must be a gun from the victim's gun collection." and: "He sees a gun on the floor. The victim, a retired spinster, was never known to own a gun." Etc.

A gun

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