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Royal999 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Should we add the article THE in combining these sentences?
There are two sentence sets:
1:
These are pictures.
He has taken them before.
Which is correct?
"These are pictures which he has taken before."
or
"These are the pictures which he has taken before."?
2:
These are birds.
They fly south in autumn.
Which is correct?
"These are birds which fly south in autumn."
or
"These are the birds which fly south in autumn."?
I've seen both modes, but I don't know which applies here.
Maybe we could use both, without any problem.
Look at it as an exercise that is given to students, i.e. it doesn't contain any other sentences that are related to it and it is not extracted from a larger text.
1:
These are pictures.
He has taken them before.
Which is correct?
"These are pictures which he has taken before."
or
"These are the pictures which he has taken before."?
2:
These are birds.
They fly south in autumn.
Which is correct?
"These are birds which fly south in autumn."
or
"These are the birds which fly south in autumn."?
I've seen both modes, but I don't know which applies here.
Maybe we could use both, without any problem.
Look at it as an exercise that is given to students, i.e. it doesn't contain any other sentences that are related to it and it is not extracted from a larger text.
Top answer
"? Both are correct. " These are <> pictures he has taken before.
- "?
- Both are correct.
- " These are <> pictures he has taken before.
- The same reasoning holds true for #2, except the birds can be flying overhead, and you are pointing to them, or showing pictures of them.
- The definite article implies that this is the complete set of all (local) birds that migrate.
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15 Answers
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Royal999Which is correct?"These are pictures which he has taken before."or"These are the pictures which he has taken before."?Both are correct.
If you have the pictures in your hand, and you are handing them to someone, use "the." (It implies that these are all of the pictures he has ever taken before, or that you have mentioned this set of pictures earli
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'pictures' on its own means 'some pictures', not particularly mentioned or highlighted before, and not necessarily all the ones taken before.
'the pictures' highlights them either as all of them, or ones previously mentioned or highlighted.
Similarly with 'the' birds.
d
'the pictures' highlights them either as all of them, or ones previously mentioned or highlighted.
Similarly with 'the' birds.
d
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So, please explain why this rule doesn't apply about this one and 'the' should be added:
This is a car.
She was driving it yesterday.
True result: This is the car which she was driving yesterday.
False result: This is car which she was driving yesterday.
I want to know why in here, 'the' should be added and both modes are not correct.
This is a car.
She was driving it yesterday.
True result: This is the car which she was driving yesterday.
False result: This is car which she was driving yesterday.
I want to know why in here, 'the' should be added and both modes are not correct.
00
It's in the singular (the previous examples were plural)
So you need
This is a/the car
or some other similar qualifier (eg That is some car)
d
So you need
This is a/the car
or some other similar qualifier (eg That is some car)
d
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So, if we want to summarize it as a grammar rule, regardless of semantics, it would be:
For combining sentences (regardless of other changes including removing extra pronoun, etc):
If the first sentence is plural, it can both have or not have 'the'.
If the first sentence is singular, it should have 'the'.
For combining sentences (regardless of other changes including removing extra pronoun, etc):
If the first sentence is plural, it can both have or not have 'the'.
If the first sentence is singular, it should have 'the'.
00
Probably simpler to say that "a singular (countable) noun needs something in front of it (usually eg a/the/one/my etc/some/what/no)" - wherever it may be in a sentence.
(Uncountable/material words don't eg "Water is nice".)
It may be someone can think of more detail to this.
d
(Uncountable/material words don't eg "Water is nice".)
It may be someone can think of more detail to this.
d
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Royal999If the first sentence is plural, it can both have or not have 'the'.If the first sentence is singular, it should have 'the'.It is not the sentence that is the distinction, but the noun. It does not matter if the noun is a subject or object.
The car that Mary drives is red.
Mary drives the red car. I drive the blue
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I got about 95% of what I needed and will get the remaining later due to higher difficulty to express my problem for this 5% and lack of enough time.
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Hi Royal,
Using an article makes the noun specific. "The red cars" means cars that we have spoken about before. "Red cars" is general. Hope that helps.
Using an article makes the noun specific. "The red cars" means cars that we have spoken about before. "Red cars" is general. Hope that helps.
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