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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

'the' or no 'the'?

He is going to have breakfast with the managers.
He is going to have breakfast with managers.

In the first sentence, I think 'the' refers specifically to all managers of the company.
In the second sentence, I think leaving out 'the' means it could be any managers of the company.
Is my understanding correct? If not, could you please explain the difference?

Can I also say "have a breakfast"? Is there any difference?
  

Top answer

-- Well, it refers to some specific or previously-mentioned managers; it does not reveal whether it is all the managers of anything. -- It means some unidentified managers-- any people of that class . It reveals nothing about a company.

— Mister Micawber

  • -- Well, it refers to some specific or previously-mentioned managers; it does not reveal whether it is all the managers of anything.
  • -- It means some unidentified managers-- any people of that class .
  • It reveals nothing about a company.
  • Can I also say "have a breakfast"?
  • -- No difference, except that 'have breakfast' is the native formation unless one is speaking directly of one of several breakfasts.
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2 Answers
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In the first sentence, I think 'the' refers specifically to all managers of the company.-- Well, it refers to some specific or previously-mentioned managers; it does not reveal whether it is all the managers of anything.

In the second sentence, I think leaving out 'the' means it could be any managers of the company.-- It means some unidentified managers-- any people of that cla
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Thank you very much. That was really helpful.
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