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Anonymous Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

Why definite article before "King"?

Hi. It seems to me that in storybooks there may be characters that are named something like "King" or "Bear." Then when the stories unfold, "King" seems to become "the King" in sentences, like "He gave the King ..." But "Bear" remains "Bear" without the definite article before it, like "He gave Bear ..." Why is that? Thank you in advance for your help.
  

Top answer

I think (unless you can supply specific context) that the character is named something like 'King Cole', for instance, so that 'King' is his title, while the bear is just named Bear (which is a little unusual in itself). I'm afraid that you will have to produce specific examples of your problem before we can address it accurately.

— Mister Micawber

  • I think (unless you can supply specific context) that the character is named something like 'King Cole', for instance, so that 'King' is his title, while the bear is just named Bear (which is a little unusual in itself).
  • I'm afraid that you will have to produce specific examples of your problem before we can address it accurately.
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5 Answers
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I think (unless you can supply specific context) that the character is named something like 'King Cole', for instance, so that 'King' is his title, while the bear is just named Bear (which is a little unusual in itself).

I'm afraid that you will have to produce specific examples of your problem before we can address it accurately.
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Thank you. I don't have any book with the phrase "the King" at the moment, but I do have the book titled "I Want My Tooth" by Tony Ross. It is a short book and was published by HarperCollins Children's Books. In it, I see the phrases "said the Little Princess" after a short quote from her (what was quoted was a question, by the way) and "said the General" after a short quote following (immediately
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Anonymoussaid the Little Princess
That her title.
Anonymoussaid the General
That is his title.
Those are not their names.
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Thank you again. If we were to take away the definite articles before the words (or titles, as you said), would they still be titles?

(each used after a quote)

said Little Princess
said General

How about in a story dealing with family, would the words "Son" and "Father" be okay to refer to the characters in the story? Thank you again in advance for your help.
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AnonymousThank you again. If we were to take away the definite articles before the words (or titles, as you said), would they still be titles?(each used after a quote)said Little Princesssaid General
I think they would be more like (unusual) names. They are used without the article, of course, in direct address.
AnonymousHow about in a
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