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Anonymous Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

Why is there no definite article?

"The comparative incidence of psychiatric injury in between the two conflicts cannot be known, for both the definition and the treatment changed radically over those years."

Why did the author omit the definite article in this sentence? I added them there myself.
  

Top answer

The passage is correct without the articles you put in - even if this definition and this treatment have been previously mentioned. To explain this is difficult - this is one of the myriad situations in English where article use is seemingly not according to textbook rules. Putting in the articles make the passage incomprehensible.

— Anonymous

  • The passage is correct without the articles you put in - even if this definition and this treatment have been previously mentioned.
  • To explain this is difficult - this is one of the myriad situations in English where article use is seemingly not according to textbook rules.
  • Putting in the articles make the passage incomprehensible.
  • "The definition" of what?
  • " With the articles, a detailed explanation of what you're talking about is expected to follow immediately, and in the same sentence, and there is none here - and it would be awkward anyway to put all that in one sentence.
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4 Answers
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The passage is correct without the articles you put in - even if this definition and this treatment have been previously mentioned. To explain this is difficult - this is one of the myriad situations in English where article use is seemingly not according to textbook rules.

Putting in the articles make the passage incomprehensible. "The definition" of what? "The treatment of what?"
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The sentence does not make sense to me without the articles.I dont know what the author is implying by "definition"
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Anonymous"The comparative incidence of psychiatric injury in between the two conflicts cannot be known, for both the definition and the treatment changed radically over those years."Why did the author omit the definite article in this sentence? I added them there myself.
Could someone help me and answer my question please?
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"The comparative incidence of psychiatric injury in between the two conflicts cannot be known, for both definition and treatment changed radically over those years."

Definition and treatment are used in a general, not particular, sense.
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