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Johnson13 Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
(the) English life
As far as I know, when LIFE is used to refer to a particular way of living, with a national adjective preceding it, we must not use THE.
Examples from dict.:
1.He wrote many other popular novels and plays, often comedies about English life and society.
2.He painted scenes of American life, landscapes and scenes of the sea.
But in an award-winnig book I see such a sentence:
In the context of the Russian life in those days, the emergence of St. Petersburg was similar to the discovery of the New World.
Do you think THE should be deleted?
Examples from dict.:
1.He wrote many other popular novels and plays, often comedies about English life and society.
2.He painted scenes of American life, landscapes and scenes of the sea.
But in an award-winnig book I see such a sentence:
In the context of the Russian life in those days, the emergence of St. Petersburg was similar to the discovery of the New World.
Do you think THE should be deleted?
Top answer
Hi Yes, I agree with you. "The Russian life" doesn't sound quite right, but "Russian life" does Dave
- Hi Yes, I agree with you.
- "The Russian life" doesn't sound quite right, but "Russian life" does Dave
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4 Answers
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Hi
Yes, I agree with you. "The Russian life" doesn't sound quite right, but "Russian life" does
Dave
Yes, I agree with you. "The Russian life" doesn't sound quite right, but "Russian life" does
Dave
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That is Joseph Brodsky, who for all his brilliance and erudition had English as a second language. That left him free to do as he pleased with it. That "the Russian life " does strike me a bit odd at first, but I see where he got it. It is better than the alternatives. By "the Russian life in those days", he meant something like "the kind of life led by a Russian of those days"—"life" in his conte
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This is exactly where the problem lies which has made me lose a lot of sleep.
In English, when we use OF, almost on every occasion we need THE; the usual explanation I see is, when OF exists, it refers to a possessive relationship, which entails definiteness, so we need a definite article THE. But this reason, I have long found, is feeble.
In the OALD, a sentence:
Massag
In English, when we use OF, almost on every occasion we need THE; the usual explanation I see is, when OF exists, it refers to a possessive relationship, which entails definiteness, so we need a definite article THE. But this reason, I have long found, is feeble.
In the OALD, a sentence:
Massag
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You could add "the", but the problem with the definite article in this case is that it presupposes that there is indeed tension in your shoulders and back. The sentence as it stands, "Massage can relieve tension in your shoulders and back", means that massage can relieve any tension that might exist in one's shoulders and back.
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