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Anonymous Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

definite article

0Hi,02br
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00Do you think the follwing definite articles are placed due to the fact that the situations (or context) make it definte (or clear) and that's the reason why the articles are placed? Good enough reason? I saw this on online grammar exercise that quoted permission from Mother Jones Magazine. The content was noted as in "Cold Comfort" from Mother Jones Magazine by Michael Castleman.02br
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00(The previous sentences and paragraphes were spent talking about the loss of antibiotic effectiveness against common bacterial illnesses.)02br
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00Your brother catches a cold that turns into a sinus infection. Hs doctor treats him with antibiotics, but the bacteria are resistant to all of them. 02br
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001. Why 'the bacteria' when bacteria haven't been discussed or noted all along? It is placed since it is 'definite' (or clear??) from context?02br
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00Then few sentences later it has this sentence:02br
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00Far-fetched? It's not. The antibiotics crisis is real.02br
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002. Why 'the antibiotics crisis' with 'the'? The writing didn't seem to mention any explicit crisis but seemed to have been leading to that direction, so placing 'the' with 'crisis' seems reasonable? 0-
  

Top answer

02br 02br 00Bacteria. 0-

  • 02br 02br 00Bacteria.
  • 0-
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3 Answers
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0In both cases they are discussing very specific things.02br
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00Bacteria. Not all bacteria, not any old bacteria, but specifically and only the bacteria involved in your brother's cold.02br
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00The crisis with antibiotics; not any other of the many crises in the world.0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Anonymous12cite10Why 'the bacteria' when bacteria haven't been discussed or noted all along?12blockquote
10 They have been noted implicitly, though. The word 01i00the02i00 triggers the reader to find something in the situation which makes the following noun refer to something defini
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0Thank you.02br
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00If a mark of good teacher or pofessor is his/her ability to explain a complicated matter in clearly understable terms, then you seem to possess that quality. 0-

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