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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

A/the - definiteness

Hi! I have a question regarding the use of a/the in the context of a noun definiteness. If you look at the wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shatner, and there's a photo of him with the title "William Shatner as Kirk in a promotional photograph". And although I "feel" it right to use "a", I don't see how is it not definite -- we see the photograph, it's right above the title. Why isn't it definite? First use?
  

Top answer

Hi, The writer is thinking that there are many promotional photographs, and that this is one of them. Clive

— Clive

  • Hi, The writer is thinking that there are many promotional photographs, and that this is one of them.
  • Clive
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7 Answers
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Hi,

The writer is thinking that there are many promotional photographs, and that this is one of them.

Clive
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But that doesn't make the photograph less definite. For example, if I see the dog on the street, I can tell my companion - hey, look at the dog. There're a lot of dogs out there, and that one is one of them, but it's definite on, so "the". Why isn't this the case here?
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Hi,

But you can also say "Hey look, there's a dog'. This suggests, as I said, that you are thinking that it is one of many.

Your words show the listener how you are thinking about it.

Clive
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I do not think you will come closer than that it is a meta tag to a photograph. The equivalent is a picture of the dog, with the caption "here is the dog in a promotional photograph". So while the dog and Kirk are both definite, by article or name, the photograph is one of many.

Does that make any sense?
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CopenhagenCallingI do not think you will come closer than that it is a meta tag to a photograph. The equivalent is a picture of the dog, with the caption "here is the dog in a promotional photograph". So while the dog and Kirk are both definite, by article or name, the photograph is one of many.

Does that make any sense?
To me it is quite subtle and u
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Okay, how about:

The article author informs you by the sub caption of the picture that this is not just a photograph but a promotional photograph. If he/she had said "..in the photograph" you would have missed the information that it was a promotional photograph, and it would sound strange to say "..in the promotional photograph" in a sub caption to the picture itself, rather that
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Hi,

I think it is quite subtle, yes.

But you'll get used to it. And it's not the sort of thing that seriously inteferes with your ability to communicate.

Clive
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