The article 'The'

Question

I student asked me the following question, given the following 'fill in the blank.'

Generally, it was ____ pretty smooth flight.

He said, "I know the answer should be
'Generally, it was a pretty smooth flight.' but if I follow the rule then 'Generally, it was the pretty smooth flight.' should also be correct, right?

I wasn't sure how to answer. It seems the 'IT' in the sentence somehow takes on some kind of priority as 'Generally, the flight was pretty smooth.' seems to work.

I am not a grammar expert, as my email will, no doubt, prove. So, please. Educate me.

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

omarpif I follow the rule

What rule is that? The article is needed whatever rule the student has in mind.

CB

Roshan Rajkumar · Answer

YES WHAT IS MEANT BY THAT

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Roshan RajkumarYES WHAT IS MEANT BY THAT

Please do not post in ALL CAPS.

"That" refers to the particular rule the poster was thinking about, but did not name.

CalifJim · Answer

omarpit was the pretty smooth flight

Here, 'the' draws attention to and selects some specific 'pretty smooth flight', as if comparing it to another specific flight which may have been a 'pretty rough flight', but no such contrast is intended by the speaker, so 'the' doesn't make sense. You can just barely get by with "I enjoyed the smooth flight to London, but I suffered through the rough flight to Paris", but you can't get by with "I had the smooth flight to New York". You weren't offered a smooth flight and a rough flight to New York, so you can't select which of the two you want to talk about.

CJ

The article 'The'

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