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Anonymous Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

Which one is right?

0Hi,02br
02br
00There were three sentences with differing articles, which one (or ones) is (are) right?02br
02br
01i001. He is02i00 01i01u00the ex-curator02u02i00 01i00of a museum of prehistoric cave painting.02i02br
02br
01i002. He is 01u00ex-curator02u00 of a museum of prehistoric cave painting.02i02br
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01i003. He is 01u00an ex-curator02u00 of a museum of prehistoric cave painting.02i02br
02br
01i00The expert seems to favor #1 and #2, but wondering why not #3? Mr. Micawber, the expert, will might put aforth the argument that there are very few cave painting galleries around and certainly only one in the sepaker's range of context and it also is a title, as he did on one other post, so #1 and #2 are tthe ones he favor. But how about #3, can it be acceptable too? 02i0-
  

Top answer

0 01blockquote 01cite 10Anonymous12cite 10Hi,12br 12br 11i 10 But how about #3, can it be acceptable too? 0-

— Milky

  • 0 01blockquote 01cite 10Anonymous12cite 10Hi,12br 12br 11i 10 But how about #3, can it be acceptable too?
  • 0-
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5 Answers
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Anonymous12cite10Hi,12br
12br
11i10 But how about #3, can it be acceptable too? 12i12br
12br
12blockquote
10Sure it can:02br
02br
00He is an ex-member of the CIA.02br
02br
00He is an ex-student of NYU.0-
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0
0 01blockquote
01cite10Anonymous12cite12br
10Hi,12br
12br
11i10 But how about #3, can it be acceptable too? 12i12br
12br
12blockquote
10Sure it can:02br
02br
00He is an ex-member of the CIA.02br
02br
00He is an ex-student of NYU.02
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0Actually, #3 sounds the best to me.02br
02br
00I think nos.1 and 2 sound odd with the phrase 'a museum'; more natural would be to use those two forms when the museum is specified by name, as in The Museum of Prehistoric Cave Painting. Then no.3 would be used only if there were more than one ex-curator of that museum.0-
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0In my opinion number 2 is incorrect, but I may well be mistaken if Mr. Micawber thinks otherwise. 05000 For numbers 1 and 3: number 1 is correct if he/she was the only curator,01i00and02i00 if there is only one curator now (or none, but that would be improbable); number 3, conversely, is correct if there were two or more curators employed beforehand, 01i00
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0 RyanzOr,02br
00 The same thought crossed my mind. If not incorrect, then the second one is at least a little anomalous because of the "ex-". Without the article, we have a title or occupation: 01i00He is curator of ...02i00 would strike me as a possibility. But I don't sense that "ex-curator", "ex-president", "ex-anything" is really a title or occup
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