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Spooner Posted 15 years ago
Essay & Composition Writing
Tenses and articles in a sentence
Lately, we’ve been receiving quite a number of inquiries and reports from the internet BJs and viewers who are suffering from inappropriate and ill-mannered chatting on the site.
Hi,
I got two questions regarding the above sentence.
1. I used the simple present "are" in the sentence. Is it OK or should I have used a different tense for more clarity, maybe present perfect?
2. Do I need to put "the" in front of "inappropriate" or is it OK without any?
If whoever reads this sentence has never heard about the situation before, then I don't need to put "the" since it would be the first time they would read about it. And since the word "chatting" seems to be uncountable, I don't need to make it plural. Am I right?
Thanks for your help
Hi,
I got two questions regarding the above sentence.
1. I used the simple present "are" in the sentence. Is it OK or should I have used a different tense for more clarity, maybe present perfect?
2. Do I need to put "the" in front of "inappropriate" or is it OK without any?
If whoever reads this sentence has never heard about the situation before, then I don't need to put "the" since it would be the first time they would read about it. And since the word "chatting" seems to be uncountable, I don't need to make it plural. Am I right?
Thanks for your help
Top answer
1. " 2. "The" works, but it is not necessary to have it in this situation.
- 1.
- " 2.
- "The" works, but it is not necessary to have it in this situation.
- It does, however, call it out and therefore may be more appropriate.
- Also, "the" is not necessary in " the internet BJs".
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3 Answers
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1. "Are" is appropriate, but would suggest: "Lately, we’ve been receiving quite a number of inquiries and reports from the internet BJs and viewers who are suffering from as a result of inappropriate and ill-mannered chatting on the site."
2. "The" works, but it is not necessary to have it in this situation. It does, however, call it out and
2. "The" works, but it is not necessary to have it in this situation. It does, however, call it out and
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If I had put “the”, wouldn’t it change the nuance a bit?
implying something like "the inappropriate and illmannered chatting (they might have heard of or been aware of before)" ?
implying something like "the inappropriate and illmannered chatting (they might have heard of or been aware of before)" ?
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Certainly it would change the nuance, but only in stressing its existance, whether others have heard about it or not. It also calls it out from the other chatter. Sort of, "I'm talking about the ill-mannered and inappropriate chatting, not the acceptable chatting."
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