Abbreviations & 'the'

Question

If I made abbreviations 'GR' from 'Green Road' which determines a green line in the figure and it also means, for example, a 'good road' and 'RR' = 'Red Road' = 'bad road'. Do I have to use them with 'the' all the time (or an example please)?

Represented by figure 1 or by ?the? figure 1?
what does it mean if i write 'by the figure 1'?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

If I made abbreviations 'GR' from 'Green Road' which determines a green line in the figure and it also means, for example, a 'good road' and 'RR' = 'Red Road' = 'bad road'. Do I have to use them with 'the' all the time (or an example please)?

If you are just writing in note form, not in sentences, you don't need 'the'.

If you are writing in sentences, you probably do. Why don't you post some examples here of what you want to say, and we can comment. It's always better if you can give us sentence examples of what you are asking about.

Represented by figure 1 or by ?the? figure 1?
what does it mean if i write 'by the figure 1'?

Just say 'figure 1', it's the name of the figure.

Best wishes, Clive

SergOn · Answer

(correct me if possible)
I raised my **** from the couch and took a grammar book. The first thing I saw (or had seen?) was 'don't use 'the' before noun + number'.

It's time to read it again.

Sentence ex. (GR='green road'):
If the length of a GR is less or equal to the length of the according RR then something is wrong. In this case (or In that case?) ...
(the phrase is not about the figure, I mean any GR)

What will the reader think about, if he has a green road in the town?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

(correct me if possible)
I raised my **** (<<< not a terribly rude word, but please don't say it when you are sitting at my dinner table) from the couch and picked up/ got a grammar book. The first thing I saw (or had seen? No) was 'don't use 'the' before noun + number'.

It's time to read it again.

Sentence ex. (GR='green road'):
If the length of a GR is less or equal to the length of the according RR then something is wrong. In this case (or In that case?) ...
(the phrase is not about the figure, I mean any GR)

What will the reader think about, if he has a green road in the town?

There are a number of problems here, but mainly I wonder why you want to invent and use such an abbreviation. When you speak about your kitchen table, do you want to call it your KT?

Or do you perhaps mean that the proper name of the road is 'Green Road'? In that case, you wouldn't refer to it as 'a green road'. What is a green road, anyway? A road with many green trees?

Perhaps you could clarify this all a bit?

Best wishes, Clive

SergOn · Answer

(correct me if possible, I'm learning English at the moment

,
esp marked with *)

ex: There is a labyrinth in my figure. May I call a line,
showing a path, in the labyrinth 'road'?
(Check the commas, please. Is something necessary before 'road'?)

(is it possible to say 'What if ...'?) What if I make a common rule...
When I make a common rule about all green roads (=lines) in my figures
(they differ in length, shape, etc), how must I use the abbreviations
(with 'the','a' or zero article)?

The rule, in the text, might follow a figure with green and red lines (roads).
How to say about all green roads in all my figures by using
the abbreviations and avoid meaning of the lines in
the followed (or previous? or ???) figure.

Rule: If the length of *?* GR is less or equal to the length
of the according RR then something is wrong.
In this case, you must recheck the length of the line. (*or 'In that case'*?)

('... equal or less than? the length ...')

Would it be better?
src: 'What will the reader think about, if he has a green road in the town?'
to: '..., if there is a green road in his town?'

Is it enough of examples?
(Is it possible to write 'Enough of examples?')

BTW
I have two nouns: 'the GR', 'the RR'.
'The GR and the RR ...'
(It seems, it's impossible to shorten the phrase to 'The GR and RR ...'. Right?)

Clive · Answer

Hi Sergon,

Here are some comments.

(correct me if possible, I'm learning English at the moment

,
esp marked with *)

ex: There is a labyrinth in my figure. May I call a line,
showing a path, in the labyrinth 'road'? You should call it a path.
(Check the commas, please. Is something necessary before 'road'? Yes. You need the article 'a'.)

(is it possible to say 'What if ...'? Yes.) What if I make a common rule...
When I make a common rule about all green roads (=lines) in my figures
(they differ in length, shape, etc), how must I use the abbreviations
(with 'the','a' or zero article)? You wouldn't normally use abbreviations at all. You'd just talk about 'the green paths' and 'the red paths', etc. That will also avoid the difficulties you are making for yourself about how to use articles with abbreviations.

The rest of what you wrote is hard for me to understand. For example, I thought we were talking about a figure drawn on paper, and suddenly you start to talk about the reader's town. Why is that?

If you want to reply, I'm happy to try to help. But please, make your question as short and as clear as you can.

Best wishes, Clive

SergOn · Answer

Thank you, Clive.

Abbreviations & 'the'

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