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Reegis Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

Articles: They saw [the] lightning and waited for a clap of [the] thunder.

Hello,

please have a look at the sentence below:

They saw [the] lightning and waited for a clap of [the] thunder.

In what circumstances would you add the before lightning and thunder?
  

Top answer

The second "the" is unlikely. g. if you've already talked about a storm.

— Teechr

  • The second "the" is unlikely.
  • g.
  • if you've already talked about a storm.
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5 Answers
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The second "the" is unlikely. However, the first you might use if, for instance, you've previously mentioned that lightning, or if there was expectation of it happening, e.g. if you've already talked about a storm.
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Reegisthe before lightning and thunder?
It's a matter of previous mention (or a context that implies it), but "the" goes before "clap" if there was a previous mention, thus:

No previous mention:
They saw lightning and waited for a clap of thunder.
They saw lightning and waited for the clap of thunder. (the c
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Hmmm, so can we say that clap kind of takes over an article from thunder? Thus we never [at least in this case] place the before thunder?

It is interesting what you said because the original version of this sentence is:

They saw the lightning and waited for a clap of thunder.

Do you think this sentence might be acceptable under certain
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Reegis Hmm, so can we say that "clap" kind of takes over an article from rather than "thunder?"
Logically, yes; at least it does in most cases!
e.g.,
They were watching the storm and they saw the lightning and waited for
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ReegisThey saw the lightning and waited for a clap of thunder.Do you think this sentence might be acceptable under certain circumstances?
I'm sure someone more clever than I can invent a scenario in which almost any sentence will work.
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