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Tung Quoc Posted 20 years ago
Grammar
"the" vs "a"
Please read:
a.The government has pointed out the bad effect certain drugs have on people and has decided to effect new laws to restrict the sale of these drugs. (1)
b.The government has pointed out that certain drugs have a bad effect on people and has decided to effect new laws to restrict the sale of these drugs. (2)
Please explain me why in (1), the article is the, but in (2), the article is a?
Can I use a in (1) and the in (2)? Why?
Quoc
a.The government has pointed out the bad effect certain drugs have on people and has decided to effect new laws to restrict the sale of these drugs. (1)
b.The government has pointed out that certain drugs have a bad effect on people and has decided to effect new laws to restrict the sale of these drugs. (2)
Please explain me why in (1), the article is the, but in (2), the article is a?
Can I use a in (1) and the in (2)? Why?
Quoc
Top answer
Hi, Articles are tricky to explain, as well as to understand, as I'm sure you realize. I'm just going to try to explain how I think about each of these sentences. The government has pointed out the bad effect certain drugs have on people and has decided to effect new laws to restrict the sale of these drugs.
- Hi, Articles are tricky to explain, as well as to understand, as I'm sure you realize.
- I'm just going to try to explain how I think about each of these sentences.
- The government has pointed out the bad effect certain drugs have on people and has decided to effect new laws to restrict the sale of these drugs.
- (1) The use of 'the' tells me that these drugs only have one specific bad effect.
- You can say 'a', but that will tell me that there is more than one such effect and this is just one of them.
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2 Answers
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Hi,
Articles are tricky to explain, as well as to understand, as I'm sure you realize. I'm just going to try to explain how I think about each of these sentences.
a.The government has pointed out the bad effect certain drugs have on people and has decided to effect new laws to restrict the sale of these drugs. (1) The use of 'the' tells me that these
Articles are tricky to explain, as well as to understand, as I'm sure you realize. I'm just going to try to explain how I think about each of these sentences.
a.The government has pointed out the bad effect certain drugs have on people and has decided to effect new laws to restrict the sale of these drugs. (1) The use of 'the' tells me that these
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It is quite common for a to change to the when a relative clause follows. That's because the relative clause specifies something about the preceding noun, making it definite.
I drank a glass of milk. (We don't know or care which glass of milk.)
(Judy brought me) the glass of milk that I drank. (Which glass of milk is specified.)
I drank a glass of milk. (We don't know or care which glass of milk.)
(Judy brought me) the glass of milk that I drank. (Which glass of milk is specified.)
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