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Ant_222 Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
Questions on articles (again from "The Lord of the Rings")
Hello everybody,
Below are two sentences over which I really stumbled, because I'd certainly not use articles the way Tolkien did.
«Frodo woke up to find Faramir bending over him. For a second (?) old fears seized him and he sat up and shrank away»
It is certian that "old fears" refer to the day before, when Frodo feared that Faramir would be allured by the Ring like Boromir had been, and would take it by force. This is quite a certain fear, so why the definite article wasn't used?
«There are no travelers in this land: only the (?) servants of the Dark Lord, or of the White.»
Conversely, here I don't see any reason to use the definite article. In case of a single person one would say "He is a servant of the Dark Lord", not "the servant", because he is one of many. And therefore I'd use zero article before the plural "servants" — because not all servants of the Dark Lord are meant, but only a part of them.
Thanks in advance, Anton
Below are two sentences over which I really stumbled, because I'd certainly not use articles the way Tolkien did.
«Frodo woke up to find Faramir bending over him. For a second (?) old fears seized him and he sat up and shrank away»
It is certian that "old fears" refer to the day before, when Frodo feared that Faramir would be allured by the Ring like Boromir had been, and would take it by force. This is quite a certain fear, so why the definite article wasn't used?
«There are no travelers in this land: only the (?) servants of the Dark Lord, or of the White.»
Conversely, here I don't see any reason to use the definite article. In case of a single person one would say "He is a servant of the Dark Lord", not "the servant", because he is one of many. And therefore I'd use zero article before the plural "servants" — because not all servants of the Dark Lord are meant, but only a part of them.
Thanks in advance, Anton
Top answer
) old fears seized him Parse it this way: "Old fears seized him for a second". e. very briefly).
- ) old fears seized him Parse it this way: "Old fears seized him for a second".
- e.
- very briefly).
- » I'd say "the" is optional, but I like it with "the" because the reference is to a specific group of servants.
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5 Answers
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Hi Anton
Ant_222For a second (?) old fears seized himParse it this way: "Old fears seized him for a second". Thus, "for a second" basically means "for the duration of a moment" (i.e. very briefly).
Ant_222«There are no travelers in this land: only the (?) servants of the Dark Lord, or of the White.»I'd say "the" is optiona
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Thanks for help, Amy!
You seem to have misunderstood my first question. It is the lack of the definite article before "old fears" that puzzles me. I'd say: "For a second the old fears seized him...". Maybe I wasn't clear. Hope you understand me now.
Anton
You seem to have misunderstood my first question. It is the lack of the definite article before "old fears" that puzzles me. I'd say: "For a second the old fears seized him...". Maybe I wasn't clear. Hope you understand me now.
Anton
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Sorry, Anton, my mistake. I didn't read carefully enough.
Again, I'd say "the" is optional, however without "the", the reference is more general.
It is difficult to individually define or specify each of the fears in the collection called "old fears". Even the total number of fears in that group is difficult to define or specify fully. Using "the" suggests "all of th
Again, I'd say "the" is optional, however without "the", the reference is more general.
It is difficult to individually define or specify each of the fears in the collection called "old fears". Even the total number of fears in that group is difficult to define or specify fully. Using "the" suggests "all of th
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Ant_222This is quite a certain fear [These are quite certain fears]The author didn't think so!
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Yankee: Thanks. It's interesting that the both questions have the same answer.
CJ: «The author didn't think so!»
Then I really do not know what else could be meant, although I do understand the idea of your and Amy's explanations.
CJ: «Are we sure of this?»
Yes. For example, He has many spies.
CJ: «The author didn't think so!»
Then I really do not know what else could be meant, although I do understand the idea of your and Amy's explanations.
CJ: «Are we sure of this?»
Yes. For example, He has many spies.
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