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MariaRC Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
Articles
Hi,
This is for a short story I have been assigned to write.
The girl was sitting on a bench in a park.
Now the bench has been introduced, so then I write:
The girl got off the bench and left the park.
But what if I mention the bench and the park some pages later (let's say at the end of the story and the story is looooong)?
The girl remembered how she was sitting on a/the bench in a/the park.
After so many pages, you may not remember which bench and park I refer to.
Is one of these articles definitely incorrect, or is one article simple to be preferred to the other?
This is for a short story I have been assigned to write.
The girl was sitting on a bench in a park.
Now the bench has been introduced, so then I write:
The girl got off the bench and left the park.
But what if I mention the bench and the park some pages later (let's say at the end of the story and the story is looooong)?
The girl remembered how she was sitting on a/the bench in a/the park.
After so many pages, you may not remember which bench and park I refer to.
Is one of these articles definitely incorrect, or is one article simple to be preferred to the other?
Top answer
It depends how important that particular bench and park are to the story. The more important, the more you would tend to use "the" even after such a gap. If the reader may have forgotten about them, it sounds as if the answer is "not very important", in which case you would probably use "a".
- It depends how important that particular bench and park are to the story.
- The more important, the more you would tend to use "the" even after such a gap.
- If the reader may have forgotten about them, it sounds as if the answer is "not very important", in which case you would probably use "a".
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6 Answers
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It depends how important that particular bench and park are to the story. The more important, the more you would tend to use "the" even after such a gap. If the reader may have forgotten about them, it sounds as if the answer is "not very important", in which case you would probably use "a".
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Thank you kindly, GPY! So I have a choice and either one would not be marked as "incorrect"?
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MariaRCThank you kindly, GPY! So I have a choice and either one would not be marked as "incorrect"?No, I don't think so.
Just to expand upon my previous answer, the use of "the" in "the park" is arguably slightly different from its use in "the bench". To some extent we can say "in the park" even though no specific park is identified (similar to "go t
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GPY, thank you, I understand. I understand about 'in the park'.
But overall, though, does your advice hold? If I mention a noun early on in the story and then mention it again many pages later, provided I don't want to emphasize it or it's not important, I can just use 'a/an'. Did I understand you?
But overall, though, does your advice hold? If I mention a noun early on in the story and then mention it again many pages later, provided I don't want to emphasize it or it's not important, I can just use 'a/an'. Did I understand you?
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MariaRCBut overall, though, does your advice hold? If I mention a noun early on in the story and then mention it again many pages later, provided I don't want to emphasize it or it's not important, I can just use 'a/an'.I wouldn't like to make that general statement. In your specific example, it is OK to say "a bench in a park" (noting the provisos of my last
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