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Russkiy Bear Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
Some employees or all of them (Articles)
-Have your heard anything about Nick?
-Yes. He found a job in a Swiss company. (The) employees don't like him much though
(The) employees. Does the absence or the presence of a definite article change something?
1) Theory number 1 The employees means all of the employees of the company and Employees means some of them.
2) Theory number 2. The employees would be correct and Employees would be wrong because we're talking about the employees of this Swiss company and a definite article doesn't imply all the employees just the ones who work with Nick
-Yes. He found a job in a Swiss company. (The) employees don't like him much though
(The) employees. Does the absence or the presence of a definite article change something?
1) Theory number 1 The employees means all of the employees of the company and Employees means some of them.
2) Theory number 2. The employees would be correct and Employees would be wrong because we're talking about the employees of this Swiss company and a definite article doesn't imply all the employees just the ones who work with Nick
Top answer
"the employees" means some specific employees, which in this case would be understood to mean the employees of the Swiss company. "employees" means employees in general (any employees). It is not actually wrong, but seems less likely in this situation.
- "the employees" means some specific employees, which in this case would be understood to mean the employees of the Swiss company.
- "employees" means employees in general (any employees).
- It is not actually wrong, but seems less likely in this situation.
- In this context, "employees" may give the impression that he is employing them.
- If this is not meant then "colleagues" may be a better word.
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5 Answers
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"the employees" means some specific employees, which in this case would be understood to mean the employees of the Swiss company. "employees" means employees in general (any employees). It is not actually wrong, but seems less likely in this situation.
In this context, "employees" may give the impression that he is employing them. If this is not meant then "colleagues" may be a better wor
In this context, "employees" may give the impression that he is employing them. If this is not meant then "colleagues" may be a better wor
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Does the imply all of the employees? Or it just means those people who work with Nick?
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Russkiy BearDoes the imply all of the employees? Or it just means those people who work with Nick?It would normally be understood to refer to all employees of the company mentioned, but possibly as a generalisation rather than completely literally (i.e. we do not necessarily believe that the writer has spoken to every single employee to check their opinion).
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GPYAs I mentioned, the wording tends to suggest that Nick is not an "employee" in the same sense as the others, but has the role of employer, and therefore is likely to be known to all.To avoid this connotation you can say "The other employees don't like him much though."
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Russkiy BearEmployees don't like him much though.The sentence above (no "the") gives me the impression that you're talking about "all the employees in the world". Show me any employee you want in the whole world. That employee doesn't like him much.
"The employees" in that context gives me the impression of "The employees who report to him".
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