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Morr Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
(The) trees
Hello there!
Could you confirm this please (about articles). The situation: my friend and I are driving and we see the road is blocked by trees. My friend continues to drive. I say:
"Stop! Don't you see the road is blocked by (the) trees?"
My teacher explained that either with or without the article before "trees" is correct. No article means "some trees". "The trees" means "those trees over there". The emphasis is weaker in the first and stronger in the second. I can employ either one and the sentence will be unchanged and correct.
He said the same goes if there is only one tree.
"Stop! Don't you see the road is blocked by a tree?" - the tree is not important
"Stop! Don't you see the road is blocked by the tree?" - it's that tree and the emphasis is stronger.
Do you native speakers agree with this? I've read about this emphasis thing in my textbook. Thanks!!
Could you confirm this please (about articles). The situation: my friend and I are driving and we see the road is blocked by trees. My friend continues to drive. I say:
"Stop! Don't you see the road is blocked by (the) trees?"
My teacher explained that either with or without the article before "trees" is correct. No article means "some trees". "The trees" means "those trees over there". The emphasis is weaker in the first and stronger in the second. I can employ either one and the sentence will be unchanged and correct.
He said the same goes if there is only one tree.
"Stop! Don't you see the road is blocked by a tree?" - the tree is not important
"Stop! Don't you see the road is blocked by the tree?" - it's that tree and the emphasis is stronger.
Do you native speakers agree with this? I've read about this emphasis thing in my textbook. Thanks!!
Top answer
Yes, I agree.
- Yes, I agree.
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3 Answers
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I agree with that as well.
I would be inclined to use the indefinite article for one "tree" and none for "trees", just because the emphasis is on the blocked part and not on the tree(s), but either is fine.
Where you will need the definite article is if you say:
"Stop! Don't you see the tree(s)?"
[The tree(s) that is/are there.]
I would be inclined to use the indefinite article for one "tree" and none for "trees", just because the emphasis is on the blocked part and not on the tree(s), but either is fine.
Where you will need the definite article is if you say:
"Stop! Don't you see the tree(s)?"
[The tree(s) that is/are there.]
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