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DorisPao Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
"the" vs "a"
Hi!
Can someone please help me with the following. Suppose you identify a certain group, e.g. all the members of a given club. You say:
Members of this club are very intelligent. They are also required to be polite. If a member is not polite, he/she will be expelled from the club. Those are the rules. No matter how intelligent a member, if he or she is not polite, the membership will be terminated.
My teacher (NOT a native English speaker) believes that in both instances highlighted in bold I should have written "the member" because now that I have identified a certain group of people, any reference to any individual in it should take on the definite article. This sounds like rubbish to me. I mean "a member" as in "any member".
What do the native speakers have to say?
Thanks!
Can someone please help me with the following. Suppose you identify a certain group, e.g. all the members of a given club. You say:
Members of this club are very intelligent. They are also required to be polite. If a member is not polite, he/she will be expelled from the club. Those are the rules. No matter how intelligent a member, if he or she is not polite, the membership will be terminated.
My teacher (NOT a native English speaker) believes that in both instances highlighted in bold I should have written "the member" because now that I have identified a certain group of people, any reference to any individual in it should take on the definite article. This sounds like rubbish to me. I mean "a member" as in "any member".
What do the native speakers have to say?
Thanks!
Top answer
S. I meant "a member" as in "any member of the club"...
- S.
- I meant "a member" as in "any member of the club"...
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2 Answers
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I agree with you. It definitely sounds like rubbish to me, I am sorry.
It's as you say. You have identified a certain group: members of a certain club. Referring to any individual who is a member of this club, you'd say "a member". Meaning, as you correctly say, "any member of this club".
You CAN also use "the member" in such a situation, by the way, but I'd prefer
It's as you say. You have identified a certain group: members of a certain club. Referring to any individual who is a member of this club, you'd say "a member". Meaning, as you correctly say, "any member of this club".
You CAN also use "the member" in such a situation, by the way, but I'd prefer
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