two questions on articles

Question

1. Do you absolutely need the article in the part underlined?

It will be good for them the Christian students.

2. When you are listing things after the word "like," do you have to put articles individually or can you exercise some stylistic whim to add some legitimate flavor?

I am planning to go to places like a???store, a???restaurant, a????theatre and a????hospital.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

1. Do you absolutely need the article in the part underlined?

It will be good for them the Christian students. You have two objects here. You need to delete one.

ie It will be good for them or It will be good for the Christian students. No, you don't need absolutely need 'the'. With 'the', you are making a specific reference.

2. When you are listing things after the word "like," do you have to put articles individually or can you exercise some stylistic whim to add some legitimate flavor? Yes, you can.

I am planning to go to places like a???store, a???restaurant, a????theatre and a????hospital.

I am planning to go to places like a store, restaurant, theatre and hospital.

Best wishes, Clive

Believer · Answer

Hi, allow me for two questions.

1. For No. 1, can you put a comma to make the phrase non-restrictive and use it that way, without deleting it?

It will be good for them, the Christian students.

2. For No. 2, what if the list contains a mixture of countable and uncountable nouns like this? How would resolve the issue of putting articles in appropriate places in this situation? For uncountable nouns in the list, should I leave out the articles or, if needed, use appropriate expressions of quantity?

I am planning to purchase furniture, a ???desk, costly jewelry, a ????grammar check software and some junk.

Clive · Answer

Hi again,

1. For No. 1, can you put a comma to make the phrase non-restrictive and use it that way, without deleting it? You could, but it's rather awkward and unnatural.

It will be good for them, the Christian students.

2. For No. 2, what if the list contains a mixture of countable and uncountable nouns like this? How would resolve the issue of putting articles in appropriate places in this situation? For uncountable nouns in the list, should I leave out the articles or, if needed, use appropriate expressions of quantity?

I am planning to purchase furniture, a ???desk, costly jewelry, a ????grammar check software and some junk. If it's a mixed list, I would include 'a' or 'some' with each item.

Please note that software is not a count noun. Common phrases include 'a piece of software' and 'a software package'.

If you want to buy some junk, I have some that I can sell you. (ha-ha)

Best wishes again, Clive

Believer · Answer

Hi,

Thank you for the response/explanation.

I have one more question on No. 2, what would you do if the list contains a list of countable nouns with a mix of vowel initial sounds and consonent initial sounds and thus, engender a possible article consistency problem?

I got this list from Goodman's post.

The terms/words like a planner, an??? agenda, a schedule, timetable, to-do-list, and checklist are ...

Could I just put the article "a" in front of the word "planner" and do away with all other articles for the rest of the words listed?

I am sorry but this just came up, what is this word "to-do-list"? I know what that is but is this some kind of idiomatic phrase? Where do we look to decide whether to put the articles "a" or "an" when you are seeing this kind of word?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

I have one more question on No. 2, what would you do if the list contains a list of countable nouns with a mix of vowel initial sounds and consonant initial sounds and thus, engender a possible article consistency problem? Could I just put the article "a" in front of the word "planner" and do away with all other articles for the rest of the words listed?

The terms/words like a planner, an??? agenda, a schedule, timetable, to-do-list, and checklist are ... Generally, I'd be inclined to put an article in front of each item in such a case, eg for a shopping list. But the above example is not really a list of items, it's a list of words, so I don't think you necessarily have to have any articles at all.

The terms/words like planner, agenda, schedule, timetable, to-do-list, and checklist are ...

I am sorry but this just came up, what is this word "to-do-list"? I know what that is but is this some kind of idiomatic phrase? Yes, it's an informal name for a list of things that you have to do. Just say 'a to-do-list'.

Best wishes, Clive

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