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Chudini Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Position of the definite article
Hello everyone,
For a longer time already, I have been wondering where to place the definite article in phrases like:
1) Yesterday I watched the movie "Titanic" vs. Yesterday I watched the "Titanic" movie
2) The term "spam" means... vs. The "spam" term means...
3) I often use the tool XYZ to edit... vs. I often use the XYZ tool to edit...
4) I have found this information on the website www.xyz.com vs. I have found this information on the www.xyz.com website.
I am aware that the best choice is to get rid of words such as 'movie', 'term', 'tool' and 'website', but there are contexts in which you want to add them, e.g. for clarification purposes.
Would the use of 'the' here, be similar as in:
Click on the "Cancel" button to resign.
or
I have been hired by the "XYZ" company (=I have been hired by XYZ)
Could you please help me out?
Thank you in advance.
For a longer time already, I have been wondering where to place the definite article in phrases like:
1) Yesterday I watched the movie "Titanic" vs. Yesterday I watched the "Titanic" movie
2) The term "spam" means... vs. The "spam" term means...
3) I often use the tool XYZ to edit... vs. I often use the XYZ tool to edit...
4) I have found this information on the website www.xyz.com vs. I have found this information on the www.xyz.com website.
I am aware that the best choice is to get rid of words such as 'movie', 'term', 'tool' and 'website', but there are contexts in which you want to add them, e.g. for clarification purposes.
Would the use of 'the' here, be similar as in:
Click on the "Cancel" button to resign.
or
I have been hired by the "XYZ" company (=I have been hired by XYZ)
Could you please help me out?
Thank you in advance.
Top answer
All of the ones you have given are best in the form the [general type] [specific] - the movie "Titanic" the term "Spam" the tool XYZ the website www.... but it is the Cancel button I notice 'cancel' is different for being an action, whereas the others are things. That is, whilst www...
- All of the ones you have given are best in the form the [general type] [specific] - the movie "Titanic" the term "Spam" the tool XYZ the website www....
- but it is the Cancel button I notice 'cancel' is different for being an action, whereas the others are things.
- That is, whilst www...
- is a website, "Spam" is a term etc, cancel (an action) is not a button (a thing) Perhaps someone can think of a general statement of the rule.
- d
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1 Answers
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All of the ones you have given are best in the form
the [general type] [specific] -
the movie "Titanic"
the term "Spam"
the tool XYZ
the website www....
but it is
the Cancel button
I notice 'cancel' is different for being an action, whereas the others are things. That is, whilst www... is a website, "Spam" is a term etc, cancel (an action) is n
the [general type] [specific] -
the movie "Titanic"
the term "Spam"
the tool XYZ
the website www....
but it is
the Cancel button
I notice 'cancel' is different for being an action, whereas the others are things. That is, whilst www... is a website, "Spam" is a term etc, cancel (an action) is n
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