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Englishfan25 Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

question on article 'the'?

0 Hi,02br
00The following is an excerpt from CNN.com.02br
00"A journalist who saw videotape of the hangings of Saddam Hussein's half-brother and the dictator's former chief judge has described how one of the men was decapitated."02br
00I would like to know,how the meaning of the above sentence will change if I change the sentence as follows.02br
00"A journalist who saw the videotape of the hangings of the Saddam Hussein's half-brother and the dictator's former chief judge has described how one of the men was decapitated."02br
00Thanks,02br
00Ramki0-
  

Top answer

0 Your version means that there's only one such tape and it was that specific tape which was seen. 0-

— Marius Hancu

  • 0 Your version means that there's only one such tape and it was that specific tape which was seen.
  • 0-
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5 Answers
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0 Your version means that there's only one such tape and it was that specific tape which was seen. 0-
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0 Why then not 01i00A journalist who saw 01font00a02font02i00 videotape...00?00 0-
0
0
0 Because they mean to say he saw "video material," "several tapes," not a or a specific tape. 0-
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0 So, "videotape" here is uncountable, isn't it? 0-
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0
0 Yes, and it can be both C(Countable) and U(Uncountable) as shown here: 02br
02br
0500240hrefhttp://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=88242
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