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MariaRC Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
Giving instructions with articles
Hi,
Imagine that I am giving a tourist who is lost instructions:
"Head up the hill, turn right, cross the alley (or the traffic light), and walk straight until you see the train station."
Why "the alley" and "the traffic light" and not "an alley/a traffic light"? I am mentioning them for the first time. I know about them, but the tourist doesn't know there is an alley/traffic light there. Is it because my directions give immediacy/specificity to this? Not "some alley/traffic light", but the one (the only one) you will see if you follow my instructions. Is that it?
Because in a novel, you would expect to read:
"He turned right, crossed an alley, etc."
Could I also say "an alley" in this context (giving instructions)?
I hope the question is clear!
Maria
Imagine that I am giving a tourist who is lost instructions:
"Head up the hill, turn right, cross the alley (or the traffic light), and walk straight until you see the train station."
Why "the alley" and "the traffic light" and not "an alley/a traffic light"? I am mentioning them for the first time. I know about them, but the tourist doesn't know there is an alley/traffic light there. Is it because my directions give immediacy/specificity to this? Not "some alley/traffic light", but the one (the only one) you will see if you follow my instructions. Is that it?
Because in a novel, you would expect to read:
"He turned right, crossed an alley, etc."
Could I also say "an alley" in this context (giving instructions)?
I hope the question is clear!
Maria
Top answer
MariaRC Not "some alley/traffic light", but the one (the only one) you will see if you follow my instructions. Is that it? Yes.
- MariaRC Not "some alley/traffic light", but the one (the only one) you will see if you follow my instructions.
- Is that it?
- Yes.
- However, "cross the traffic light" is not right.
- You may mean "cross at the traffic lights".
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5 Answers
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MariaRCNot "some alley/traffic light", but the one (the only one) you will see if you follow my instructions. Is that it?Yes.
However, "cross the traffic light" is not right. You may mean "cross at the traffic lights". I'm not sure whether "cross the alley" is quite right for what you mean either, but these points do not affect your main question abo
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GPY, thank you for coming through! And I appreciate the corrections/advice (the alley is perpendicular to the road, so you cross it, but anyway that does not affect the main question, like you said).
Have a lovely day!
Have a lovely day!
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MariaRCthe alley is perpendicular to the road, so you cross it,An alley is very narrow; I just think that when you are on a wider road, you probably won't perceive that you "cross" a narrow alley. However, it is quite a nit-picky comment.
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MariaRCNot "some alley/traffic light", but the one (the only one) you will see if you follow my instructions. Is that it?Yes. "the alley" implies (in that situation) "the alley that you will find there".
Head up the hill, turn right, and cross an alley doesn't sound right to me. It seems to offer more than one alley to cross and gives
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