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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Definite/indefinite article use
I was trying to explain something to my students about articles and found myself stumped. Here is the example I used:
Q: What is wrong with you car?
A #1: The radiator is broken. (The definite article is used because both the speaker and the listener know which radiator they are referring to.)
A #2: It has a broken radiator.
Even though I know that A #2 cannot use the definite article, I cannot explain while it uses the indefinite article "A."
Could anyone please explain this? Thanks.
Q: What is wrong with you car?
A #1: The radiator is broken. (The definite article is used because both the speaker and the listener know which radiator they are referring to.)
A #2: It has a broken radiator.
Even though I know that A #2 cannot use the definite article, I cannot explain while it uses the indefinite article "A."
Could anyone please explain this? Thanks.
Top answer
Q: What is wrong with your car? A #1: The radiator is broken. ) A #2: It has a broken radiator.
- Q: What is wrong with your car?
- A #1: The radiator is broken.
- ) A #2: It has a broken radiator.
- ( This describes the kind of radiator: a broken one vs a leaky one vs a new one, etc.
- )
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1 Answers
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Q: What is wrong with your car?
A #1: The radiator is broken. (The definite article is used because a car has only one radiator.)
A #2: It has a broken radiator. (This describes the kind of radiator: a broken one vs a leaky one vs a new one, etc.)
A #1: The radiator is broken. (The definite article is used because a car has only one radiator.)
A #2: It has a broken radiator. (This describes the kind of radiator: a broken one vs a leaky one vs a new one, etc.)
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