This is the/a book that I bought yesterday

Question

When I show a watch, which I bought yesterday,” to a friend of mine, I think I can say: “This is the watch that I bought yesterday.”

An English usage reference book that I have explains “This is a book that I bought yesterday” is also possible, if the person I am talking to does not know that I bought the watch yesterday.

This is rather an old book, and I would like to hear native speakers’ opinions about the above sentence and the following ones.

1. A/The new TV set that I bought yesterday was broken. (Situation: I bought one TV set. Can I say either “A new...” or “The new...” ? If I say, “A new TV set...,” doesn’t the person I am talking to wonder how many TV sets I bought?)

2. A/The box of chocolate that I bought yesterday was good. (Situation: I bought one box of chocolate. Can I use either the definite article or indefinite article before “box”?)

3. Oh, you have a new credit card! Did you ask the credit card company for priorities/the priorities that you are entitled to? I’m sure card users will have some priorities. (Same question. Can I use either “priorities” or “the priorities”?)

Our language (Japanese) has no concept of definite or indefinite articles. So I still have difficulty using them.

Thank you in advance.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

1-- 'The'. People normally have only a single TV, and it is also defined by the following clause ('that I bought yesterday')

2-- As #1. With 'a book' it is more likely that we have several recently-purchased books, so 'a' is possible, though 'the' is still more likely.

3-- 'Priorities' is the wrong word, but I don't know what you mean anyway. Please explain.

Mr Wordy · Answer

In sentences like "A/The <item> that I bought yesterday <something about the item>", use "the" when the listener already knows which thing you are talking about (for example because it has already been mentioned). If the listener doesn't already know which thing you are talking about then you have a choice of "a" or "the". Using "a" makes the item seem like "one of many" -- which may imply that you buy a lot of those things, so that each individual one is not such a big deal to you. Using "the" makes the item seem more specifically identified and possibly more important.

Because you don't buy a TV set every day, and its purchase is a reasonably notable event, you'd normally say "The TV set I bought yesterday is broken", even if the listener didn't know you'd bought one. Similarly, you'd probably say "The newspaper I bought yesterday said..." because a newspaper is issued specially each day and so is in that way specifically identified. However, you'd probably say "An egg I bought yesterday had two yolks" because eggs are interchangeable, numerous, and not very notable as a purchase.

In "This is a/the <item> that I bought yesterday", I think I'd usually stick with the simple and standard rule of "the" if the thing is already known to the listener, otherwise "a".

Your credit card sentence doesn't sound right to me either with or without "the". I'm not sure that "priorities" is the right word.

Snappy · Answer

Mister Micawber1-- 'The'. People normally have only a single TV, and it is also defined by the following clause ('that I bought yesterday')

2-- As #1. With 'a book' it is more likely that we have several recently-purchased books, so 'a' is possible, though 'the' is still more likely.

3-- 'Priorities' is the wrong word, but I don't know what you mean anyway. Please explain.

Sorry. I meant "privileges."

Mister Micawber · Answer

Yes, either 'privileges' or 'the privileges' is OK in your sentence, Snappy.

Snappy · Answer

Mister Micawber1-- 'The'. People normally have only a single TV, and it is also defined by the following clause ('that I bought yesterday')

Are the following sentences okay?

1. I'm using a second-hand TV set that I bought five years ago. It's still in good condition.

2. Three TV sets that we bought last week at an online shopping site were high-definition type.

RayH · Answer

1. I'm using a second-hand TV set that I bought five years ago. It's still in good condition. OK

2. The three TV sets that we bought last week at an on-line shopping site were high-definition type. OK but note that while leaving off "the" isn't really wrong it is much more common and sounds much better with "the." Of course leaving off "the" leaves open the possibility that you bought more than three TV sets and that only three were high-def. There are better ways to phrase this if it's what you intend, such as "Three of the TV sets..."

Snappy · Answer

RayH1. I'm using a second-hand TV set that I bought five years ago. It's still in good condition. OK

2. The three TV sets that we bought last week at an on-line shopping site were high-definition type. OK but note that while leaving off "the" isn't really wrong it is much more common and sounds much better with "the." Of course leaving off "the" leaves open the possibility that you bought more than three TV sets and that only three were high-def. There are better ways to phrase this if it's what you intend, such as "Three of the TV sets..."

The following is just my guess.

1.

(1) I'm using a second-hand TV set. (2) I bought it five years ago.

The order of these sentences seems okay.

The sentences can be connected by using a relative pronoun as follows:

I'm using a second-hand TV set that I bought five years ago.

2.

(1) Three TV sets were high-definition type. (2) We bought the three TV sets last week.

The order of these sentences are unnatural.

People never start a conversation like this.

These sentences connected by using a relative pronoun sound unnatural too.

I think this is the reason my sentence, "Three TV sets that we bought last week at an on-line shopping site were high-definition type" sounds unnatural.

3.

(1) We bought three TV sets last week. (2) The three TV sets were high-definition type.

The order of these sentences seems natural.

These sentences can be connected by using a relative pronoun as follows:

"I bought three TV sets that were high-definition type last week."

This seems gramatically okay, but if these sentences are connected in the oder of (2) and (1), the connected sentence sounds better.

"The three TV sets that we bought last week were high-definition type."

4. If I show my friend a book, I will never start the conversation in the following order.

(1) This is a book. (My friend will know that it is a book when s/he sees it.) (2) I bought it last week.

(1) This is the book. (If I say this to start the conversation, my friend wonders why I say "the book.") (2) I bought it last week.

However, the following order seems possible.

(1) I bought a book last week. (2) This is the book.

Since the order of these sentences seem okay the combined sentence should be okay too if I combine them in the order of (2) and (1).

"This is the book I bought last week."

So my assumption is: If there are two sentences, e.g., sentence (1) and sentence (2), in good order, the sentences can be combined together in the order of (1) and (2) or (2) and (1) whichever sounds more natural. The first sentence will keep the article used in the original sentence (e.g., "This is the book I bought last week."). If two sentences sound unnatural or the sentence order is unnatural, the combined sentence will sound unnatural too.

This is the/a book that I bought yesterday

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions