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Anonymous Posted 9 years ago
Grammar
A/the stairwell
This is one of these confusing situations for me. Let's say we find out a homeless man lived in one of the two stairwells in our building at night. There are 2 stairwells (at each end of the building). Is it:
The homeless man lived in a stairwell.
The homeless man lived in the stairwell.
Since there's more than one stairwell and it's unclear which stairwell it is, logically it's "a stairwell". But I think "the" is natural too, no? There's something about stairwells that makes it natural to my ears to say "the stairwell" even if there are two. Worst comes to worst, the other person might say "Oh? Which stairwell?" and I will clarify "the one on the left).
What to do you think about this?
The homeless man lived in a stairwell.
The homeless man lived in the stairwell.
Since there's more than one stairwell and it's unclear which stairwell it is, logically it's "a stairwell". But I think "the" is natural too, no? There's something about stairwells that makes it natural to my ears to say "the stairwell" even if there are two. Worst comes to worst, the other person might say "Oh? Which stairwell?" and I will clarify "the one on the left).
What to do you think about this?
Top answer
Anonymous The homeless man lived in a stairwell. Absent the establishment of a place where this stairwell might be, this is the correct sentence. This sentence assumes complete ignorance of where exactly the stairwell in question might be — not even which nation of the world it might be in.
- Anonymous The homeless man lived in a stairwell.
- Absent the establishment of a place where this stairwell might be, this is the correct sentence.
- This sentence assumes complete ignorance of where exactly the stairwell in question might be — not even which nation of the world it might be in.
- Anonymous The homeless man lived in the stairwell.
- If something in the context has previously established which building contains the stairwell, and there is only one stairwell, this is the correct sentence.
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4 Answers
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AnonymousThe homeless man lived in a stairwell.Absent the establishment of a place where this stairwell might be, this is the correct sentence. This sentence assumes complete ignorance of where exactly the stairwell in question might be — not even which nation of the world it might be in.
AnonymousThe homeless man lived in the stairwe
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Hi CalifJim,
Thank you very much. I should have mentioned that it's been established which building is referred to (let's say I am talking with a neighbour, we're talking about our building). If there are two stairwells, can I say,
"He lived in a stairwell."
"He lived in the stairwell."
(I understand that "in one of the stairwells" is perfect, but it can't be the onl
Thank you very much. I should have mentioned that it's been established which building is referred to (let's say I am talking with a neighbour, we're talking about our building). If there are two stairwells, can I say,
"He lived in a stairwell."
"He lived in the stairwell."
(I understand that "in one of the stairwells" is perfect, but it can't be the onl
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Anonymouswe're talking about our building). If there are two stairwells, can I say,"He lived in a stairwell."Yes, but "in one of the stairwells" strikes me as more idiomatic English. In fact, this is the point I made in the last few sentences of my previous post.
AnonymousHe lived in the stairwell.No. It doesn't specify
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