The use of the

Question

Are the following sentences acceptable grammatically ?

In the 2003 Independent Endurance Race , Phillip Pean, John Doe and Jasmine managed to finish the race in the ninth place .

My question is : Is the article "the " necessary in the above sentence( FINISH THE RACE IN THE NINTH PLACE )

Question 2: The water so clear in the Pacific Ocean. Do I need to put "is' after the word so?

Question 3 : The National Sports Council . Can delete the definite article "the" in this phrase ?

Rommie · Accepted Answer

1. The "the" would appear to be unnecessary. What was Jasmine's surname, by the way?

2. It depends. If your intention is that this be a sentence, then yes - otherwise the sentence would have no verb. On the other hand, if your intention is that this be a noun-phrase then no, although a comma then wouldn't go amis between "water" and "so".

3. I have no idea. It depends on too many things. It depends on what the rest of the sentence is, on whether or not "The National Sports Council" is a proper noun, and so on. We'd need more information on that one.

Rommie

Guest · Answer

Thanks Rommie. What I mean for sentence 3 above was like this : Do I need to put the definite article "the " if it refers to a proper noun . The National Sports Council is a proper noun and it is not a sentence.

Rommie, I have terrible doubts about the following sentences. Correct them if they are not right grammaticaly:

1. The programe had 2,000 students training under 160 coaches in six sports -archery , futsal , badminton, hockey , volleyball and basketball . OR

The programme had 2,000 students and they ( students ) were trained by 160
coaches in six sports-archery , futsal, badminton, hockey , volleyball and basketball.

2. They sort of complement each other OR They are a sort of complementing each other

OR They are a sort of complementing to each other OR They are a sort of complement each other ?

2. You have done well at tennis as well as in your studies . How were you able to combine
both ? OR
You have done well at tennis as well as in your studies. How have you been able to combine both ? OR

You have done well at tennis as well as in your studies .How did you manage your time to combine both ?

In the above sentences, we interviewed someone who, at the time of interview ,was still studying and playing tennis. But , we want to quote what he or she said in our publication which to be issued later .

3. Memory , thinking and learning how to learn should be a part of national ( country) curriculum. Is this sentence correct ?

4. Can we say a robotic ( without "s " ) workshop or robotics ( with "s") workshop.

5. Am I correct if the sentence goes like this : Students have to build a robotic set . I don't put "s" for the word robotic .

5. A learning trip to Cameron Highland is a programme organised by the Theme Park
( name of company )for elementary and high schools complementing the government effort in promoting local tourism . OR

A learning trip to Cameron Highland is a programme organised by the Theme Park for elementry and high schools to complement the goverment effort in promoting local tourism

OR

A learning trip to Cameron Highland is a programme organised by the Theme Park for elementary and high school that complements the government effort in promoting local tourism.

6. Can I say like this : " Janice Thompson having some burger at a recent annual dinner at Law School OR "Janice is having some burger at a recent annual dinner at Law School .

I shall appreciate your immediate response to my queries above. Thanks.

Rommie · Answer

If "The National Sports Council" is a proper noun, then yes, you need the "The".

As for the rest, it looks too much like homework for me, and I'm not greatly in favour of a system which gives higher marks to people who get other people to do their homework for them than to people who do it themselves. I'm not trying to put you off though - I really am happy to help - but I'm much more likely to answer a question like "I don't understand principle-X, please can you explain?", rather than "Which is right - A, B, or C?". In other words, if you get better grades because you've understood something, that's great, but if you get better grades because I did all the work and you just copied it, that's not so great. Of course, I'm not the only person on this forum, and it's perfectly possible that someone else might tackle these questions, but if not, tell me what it is that you don't understand, and I will try to help.

Rommie

PS. "I shall appreciate your immediate response to my queries above" - This would be a perfectly appropriate sentence to include in a threatening legal letter, but you might be better off using a friendlier request like "Please could you reply asap?" in a chummy forum like this.

Guest · Answer

Thanks Rommie. For your information the questions that I asked  you were not related to any assignment  or for any personal examination ;There were merely sincere questions from me to learn English.  I believe there should not be any sensitivity in this regard .

Rommie · Answer

Fair enough then. Forgive me, it's just that your sentences were so diverse I kind of assumed they had to be test stuff. I guess I was wrong - that'll teach me. Well, here's the first one then...

The programe had 2,000 students training under 160 coaches in six sports -archery , futsal , badminton, hockey , volleyball and basketball . OR

The programme had 2,000 students and they ( students ) were trained by 160
coaches in six sports-archery , futsal, badminton, hockey , volleyball and basketball.

I like your first choice better. Both are good English though - although the parenthesis in the second version seems unnecessary, since the antecedent of "they" is unlikely to be anything else.

One thing to watch out for though. It's okay to use the ASCII character '-' as a hyphen, but if you want to use it as a dash, I would STRONGLY advise either doubling it (to "--") or, preferably, surrouned it with spaces (thus: " - "). It you don't do one of these, it will be taken as a hyphen, and your sentence misread.

Any chance you could re-post your remaining questions one-per-thread, and one at a time? Honestly, you'll get more answers that way.

Rommie.

Guest · Answer

Thank you once again  Rommie. Your explanation has been  very useful to me. I assure you  that any future question that I ask  is merely for my personal knowledge. I don't have any hidden agenda. Let's be sincere. My many questions earlier were the results of  English diversity which made me confused how to use them.Even native speakers of English whom I met were not so sure of the correct answers. That prompted me to post those questions, and so happened that you were the first one to answer.  Anyway once again, you have done a great job.

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