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Angliholic Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

the evidence of the building blocks of life

It is there to dig in the permafrost to look for the evidence of the building blocks of life.

Hi,
I presume that the bolded "the" in the above is a must because of the specified "evidence." What are your precious viewpoints? Thanks.
  

Top answer

IMHO to use the indefinite article - replace it with "some" - (or none) would imply that it might not be there, in contrast to your opening clause. ) Is that precious, or what? - A.

— Avangi

  • IMHO to use the indefinite article - replace it with "some" - (or none) would imply that it might not be there, in contrast to your opening clause.
  • ) Is that precious, or what?
  • - A.
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9 Answers
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IMHO to use the indefinite article - replace it with "some" - (or none) would imply that it might not be there, in contrast to your opening clause. Of course "It is there to dig" may mean "That's where one should dig." (It does have kind of an archaic flavor to it.)

Is that precious, or what? - A.
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AvangiIMHO to use the indefinite article (or none) would imply that it might not be there, in contrast to your opening clause. Of course "It is there to dig" may mean "That's where one should dig." (It does have kind of an archaic flavor to it.)

Is that precious, or what? - A.

Thanks, Avangi.
Now I get it. YOur explanation
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AngliholicI presume that the bolded "the" in the above is a must because of the specified "evidence."
No. the could have been omitted. To my ear:

the evidence of ... indicates a belief that the evidence is truly there.
evidence of ... indicates a more agnostic attitude about evidence.
AngliholicWhat
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Geez, I don't know how to explain it. It's like saying, "Wow, is she beautiful or what!?" It's an exclamation. You want precious? I'll show you precious!

Edit. (Thanks for the assist on "precious," CJ.) Right! If you were a native speaker, Anglihilic, one would take your use of "precious" as sarcastic, but under the circumstances we know that's not the case. I've
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CalifJim
AngliholicI presume that the bolded "the" in the above is a must because of the specified "evidence."
No. the could have been omitted. To my ear:

the evidence of ... indicates a belief that the evidence is truly there.

evidence of ... indicates a more agnostic attitude about evidence.
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"Here we use it often in the context to show we appreciate others' ideas."
Something has happened to this thread. I don't know who did what, but it now seems impossible to reply to any but the first post of the thread.
But to reply to your comment, quoted above. That may be a local usage of "precious", but to an American it sounds very strange and unidiomatic. To my ear, it is in appro
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CJ, how about "valuable inputs"? How does it sound to your ear?
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valuable viewpoints A little better, but still groveling. And who knows, before one hears the viewpoints, whether they are precious or valuable anyway?
The usual and more idiomatic way to express respect in advance (in American English, at least) is I would ( [greatly / very much] ) appreciate hearing your viewpoint.
CJ
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What's wrong with the site? It's so annoying that I can't qoute any post other than the first. Thanks, CJ. I get it now.
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