<br/>Let me make a new thread to clarify my question.<br/><br/><br/><br/>1. The company stopped the acceptance of applications for 2009.<br/><br/><br/><br/>Please tell me if the following understanding is correct.<br/><br/>1) In the above sentence, "the" before "acceptance" is optional. It can be left out.<br/><br/>2) It can be rewritten to "The company stopped the accepting of applications for 2009." or "The company stopped accepting the applications for 2009."<br/><br/>