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Anonymous Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Defining relative clause and indefinite article
Hello everybody. Here are some sentences:
1) The book is about a girl who runs ways from home
2) The book is about the girl who runs ways from home
3) I met a friend who sold me his house.
4) I met the friend who sold me his house.
5) There is a friend over there who sold me his house.
6) There is the friend over there who sold me his house.
7) The girl who kissed me yesterday...
We assume that they are all first mention.
I read that while talking with a/an, we have several people in mind, with "the" - there is only one (this rule I understand)
On one forum I read: "if the person you're talking to doesn't know these people and they haven't yet been identified, so the would be wrong".
How to understand it? The listener should know that such a person existed, or should know who it was exactly?
I. About the sentence 7 I read that it is nice as we are talking about a specific girl, but the listener doesn't necessarily knows the girl. But then in contradicts with the rule, that "if the person you're talking to doesn't know these people and they haven't yet been identified, so the would be wrong", doesn't it?
II. What's the rule of using indefinite article with the defining clause?
III. In sentences 1-2 is it correct to use "the" as the book is bout one specific girl or we should use "a" because the listener doesn't know the girl?
IV. In sentences 3-4 is it correct to use "the" if there was only one friend who sold me the house and the listener doesn't know that I had such a friend? Or again "a" should be used? But wouldn't it mean that this is one of many friends who sold me the house?
V. In sentences 5-6 is it correct to use "the" with "there is/are" as it seems to contradict grammar?
Thanks.
1) The book is about a girl who runs ways from home
2) The book is about the girl who runs ways from home
3) I met a friend who sold me his house.
4) I met the friend who sold me his house.
5) There is a friend over there who sold me his house.
6) There is the friend over there who sold me his house.
7) The girl who kissed me yesterday...
We assume that they are all first mention.
I read that while talking with a/an, we have several people in mind, with "the" - there is only one (this rule I understand)
On one forum I read: "if the person you're talking to doesn't know these people and they haven't yet been identified, so the would be wrong".
How to understand it? The listener should know that such a person existed, or should know who it was exactly?
I. About the sentence 7 I read that it is nice as we are talking about a specific girl, but the listener doesn't necessarily knows the girl. But then in contradicts with the rule, that "if the person you're talking to doesn't know these people and they haven't yet been identified, so the would be wrong", doesn't it?
II. What's the rule of using indefinite article with the defining clause?
III. In sentences 1-2 is it correct to use "the" as the book is bout one specific girl or we should use "a" because the listener doesn't know the girl?
IV. In sentences 3-4 is it correct to use "the" if there was only one friend who sold me the house and the listener doesn't know that I had such a friend? Or again "a" should be used? But wouldn't it mean that this is one of many friends who sold me the house?
V. In sentences 5-6 is it correct to use "the" with "there is/are" as it seems to contradict grammar?
Thanks.
Top answer
1) The book is about a girl who runs away from home. ??????? How to understand it?
- 1) The book is about a girl who runs away from home.
- ???????
- How to understand it?
- The listener should know that such a person existed, or should know who it was exactly?
- Normally with "the", the listener is assumed to know that such a person exists; for example, to know that the speaker has sold his house to a friend (not necessarily which friend), or that he was kissed by a girl yesterday (not necessarily which girl).
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26 Answers
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1) The book is about a girl who runs away from home.
??????? ???????How to understand it? The listener should know that such a person existed, or should know who it was exactly?Normally with "the", the listener is assumed to know that such a person exists; for example, to know that the speaker has sold his house to a friend (not necessarily which
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Thanks a lot for the descriptive answer!
What if I want to say: "The things I need to do are...",
and the listener doesn't know anything about those things, I never mentioned them before - Is it appropriate to use "the things" meaning the exhausted list?
What if I want to say: "The things I need to do are...",
and the listener doesn't know anything about those things, I never mentioned them before - Is it appropriate to use "the things" meaning the exhausted list?
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??????? ???????What if I want to say: "The things I need to do are...", and the listener doesn't know anything about those things, I never mentioned them before - Is it appropriate to use "the things" meaning the exhausted list?"The things I need to do are..." is OK even if the listener doesn't previously know anything about those things. This is because it i
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Thanks!
What should one say for the first mention of things in the following examples:
"Glasses that she presented me were beatiful"
"The glasses that she presented me were beatiful"
"Glasses that she presented me are on the table"
"The glasses that she presented me are on the table"
Which one is correct in each pair?
What should one say for the first mention of things in the following examples:
"Glasses that she presented me were beatiful"
"The glasses that she presented me were beatiful"
"Glasses that she presented me are on the table"
"The glasses that she presented me are on the table"
Which one is correct in each pair?
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"The glasses that she presented to me were beautiful."
"The glasses that she presented me with were beautiful."
The second example is the same.
"The glasses that she presented me with were beautiful."
The second example is the same.
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Thanks.
But what's the difference then?
"The glasses that she presented me with were beautiful"
"The girl who kissed me was beautiful"
Why first mention for "the glasses" is ok with "the" but for the girl sounds strange?
But what's the difference then?
"The glasses that she presented me with were beautiful"
"The girl who kissed me was beautiful"
Why first mention for "the glasses" is ok with "the" but for the girl sounds strange?
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??????? ???????"The glasses that she presented me with were beautiful""The girl who kissed me was beautifulUnfortunately I overlooked the words "first mention" in your most recent post.
In both cases, with "the", it is normally expected (there may be certain exceptions) that there is some previous knowledge of the existence of the thing(s) mentioned.
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Thank you! Could you, please, explain me the following example:
I love the apples she gave me.
Here the listener also should know that I got some apples from her? Otherwise I should use no article?
I love the music on my player.
Should the listener know the songs I listen to in order to say "the music" here if I mean all the music? The same - I
I love the apples she gave me.
Here the listener also should know that I got some apples from her? Otherwise I should use no article?
I love the music on my player.
Should the listener know the songs I listen to in order to say "the music" here if I mean all the music? The same - I
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And here:
"Even the newspapers which consider themselves not to be tabloids have written about it."
Is it a correct sentence? Should the listener know which newspapers exactly I mean? If yes, he should know all of them, or just have a general knowledge?
Or when I mean all of smth within context, it is not necessary for the listener to know about the existence of things I refe
"Even the newspapers which consider themselves not to be tabloids have written about it."
Is it a correct sentence? Should the listener know which newspapers exactly I mean? If yes, he should know all of them, or just have a general knowledge?
Or when I mean all of smth within context, it is not necessary for the listener to know about the existence of things I refe
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??????? ???????Thank you! Could you, please, explain me the following example:I love the apples she gave me.Here the listener also should know that I got some apples from her? Otherwise I should use no article?I love the music on my player.Should the listener know the songs I listen to in order to say "the music" here if I mean all the music? The same - I like the picture
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