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Marold Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Justification for articles - sample sententes from a corpus
1a) "Converting data into information thus requires knowledge". => No article
2a) "An investigation of this kind requires knowledge and experience...." => No article
3a) "With young children, teaching obedience to rules requires knowledge of three matters..." => No article
1b) "Since the test requires a knowledge of single words..." => The indenifite article
2b) "Success in business requires a knowledge of human nature and an acceptable personality." => The indenifite article
3b) "Any understanding of social change requires a knowledge of how social classes act." => The indenifite article
My assumption is that in the first three sentences the word "knowledge" is not specified by any further details whereas in the three senteces (1b-3b), the word "knowledge" is referring to the words following it and therefore is specified and thus countable.
Could anyone; however, try to offer me a better (or correct) explanation of this phenomenon?
I am much obliged to anyone for helping me.
2a) "An investigation of this kind requires knowledge and experience...." => No article
3a) "With young children, teaching obedience to rules requires knowledge of three matters..." => No article
1b) "Since the test requires a knowledge of single words..." => The indenifite article
2b) "Success in business requires a knowledge of human nature and an acceptable personality." => The indenifite article
3b) "Any understanding of social change requires a knowledge of how social classes act." => The indenifite article
My assumption is that in the first three sentences the word "knowledge" is not specified by any further details whereas in the three senteces (1b-3b), the word "knowledge" is referring to the words following it and therefore is specified and thus countable.
Could anyone; however, try to offer me a better (or correct) explanation of this phenomenon?
I am much obliged to anyone for helping me.
Top answer
Broadly speaking, I'd say you have the right idea. But note that this idea of 'specific' knowledge can justify a comma in example 3A. I'd say the article stresses that the speaker is thinking 'There are different kinds of knowledge, and I want to talk about this particular kind'.
- Broadly speaking, I'd say you have the right idea.
- But note that this idea of 'specific' knowledge can justify a comma in example 3A.
- I'd say the article stresses that the speaker is thinking 'There are different kinds of knowledge, and I want to talk about this particular kind'.
- But even in 'specific' instances, I wouldn't say it is always wrong to omit the article.
- " => Suggests that it does not require other kinds of knowledge, such as a knowledge of how economic classes act.
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2 Answers
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Broadly speaking, I'd say you have the right idea. But note that this idea of 'specific' knowledge can justify a comma in example 3A.
I'd say the article stresses that the speaker is thinking 'There are different kinds of knowledge, and I want to talk about this particular kind'.
I'd say the article stresses that the speaker is thinking 'There are different kinds of knowledge, and I want to talk about this particular kind'.
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Thank you very much, Clive.
From the non-native perspective, I sometimes fail to see the logic behind the usage of arti
From the non-native perspective, I sometimes fail to see the logic behind the usage of arti
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