Article 'the' with hair.

Question

Hi Everyone,I know all the rules for articles. However, I'm a little stuck with trying to explain the following sentence:"Sue has to brush the hair."I know we can't use 'the' with hair because it's uncountable. We need to say, "Sue has to brush her hair".This is my dilemma:Brush is a transitive verb, and so we need both the indirect and direct object in my second example. How do I explain the first sentence though? Is the first sentence incorrect because 'the' isn't an indirect object? Does this have anything to do with it being incorrect, or is it purely because 'hair' is uncountable?Thanks,CC

Tkacka15 · Accepted Answer

Cup cake
Hi Everyone,
I know all the rules for articles. However, I'm a little stuck with trying to explain the following sentence:
"Sue has to brush the hair."
I know we can't use 'the' with hair because it's uncountable. We need to say, "Sue has to brush her hair".

This is my dilemma:
Brush is a transitive verb, and so we need both the indirect and direct object in my second example. How do I explain the first sentence though? Is the first sentence incorrect because 'the' isn't an indirect object? Does this have anything to do with it being incorrect, or is it purely because 'hair' is uncountable?

Thanks,
CC

"the" and "her" are determiners modifying the head of the noun phrases, i.e. "hair". Both "the hair" and "her hair" are direct objects in those sentences.

The determinative "the" in the NP "the hair" indicates the specific hair that Sue has to brush. It doesn't have to be the Sue's hair.

BillJ · Answer

Cup cakeSue has to brush the hair."I know we can't use 'the' with hair because it's uncountable. We need to say, "Sue has to brush her hair".

You can use "the" with some, but not all, non-count nouns, e.g. "crockery", "furniture" "remains", "equipment", "clothing", "milk" etc.

Cup cakeThis is my dilemma:Brush is a transitive verb, and so we need both the indirect and direct object in my second example. How do I explain the first sentence though? Is the first sentence incorrect because 'the' isn't an indirect object? Does this have anything to do with it being incorrect, or is it purely because 'hair' is uncountable?

There a large number of verbs that are monotransitive, i.e. they take only one object, i.e. a direct object.

"The" is a determiner that marks the NP "the hair" as being definite. Since hair is normally part of the body, we would normally use a genitive pronoun as determiner, e.g. "my / her / their hair" etc.

Article 'the' with hair.

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