0
Biorophant Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Omitting Articles
Good evening (or morning depending on where you live ^^).
When it comes to the usage of articles, I always get confused, since there are too many exceptions. I hope I am not the only one.
I wrote a sentence 'A king should be like a king.' to mean that a king of one country should behave as kings are supposed to. But then again omitting both or either one of the articles from here seemed OK if they could be used to represent all kings in general, and even more preferable with a whiff of poetic effect. Those alternatives would be as follows:
King should be like king.
A king should be like king.
King should be like a king.
Using definite article(s) seems possible as well.
The king should be like king.
.....
Looks like the more I think about it, the more I would become bemused. Would you help me out please?
Thank you very much.
When it comes to the usage of articles, I always get confused, since there are too many exceptions. I hope I am not the only one.
I wrote a sentence 'A king should be like a king.' to mean that a king of one country should behave as kings are supposed to. But then again omitting both or either one of the articles from here seemed OK if they could be used to represent all kings in general, and even more preferable with a whiff of poetic effect. Those alternatives would be as follows:
King should be like king.
A king should be like king.
King should be like a king.
Using definite article(s) seems possible as well.
The king should be like king.
.....
Looks like the more I think about it, the more I would become bemused. Would you help me out please?
Thank you very much.
Top answer
The king should be like king. None of those is possible, even in poetry. They just sound like foreigner's mistakes.
- The king should be like king.
- None of those is possible, even in poetry.
- They just sound like foreigner's mistakes.
- ) "A king should act like a king" is right.
- "
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
2 Answers
0
BiorophantKing should be like king.A king should be like king.King should be like a king.Using definite article(s) seems possible as well.The king should be like king.None of those is possible, even in poetry. They just sound like foreigner's mistakes. (I think you mean "act", too, but "be" is OK if you really want.) "A king should act like a king" is right.
00
Related Questions