Why no article here?

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Hello all!I was looking up a word in theFreeDictionary and stumbled across the following sentence from Jack London's "White Fang": «The months went by, binding stronger and stronger the covenant between dog and man.»Why didn't he write "...between the dog...".Thanks in advance,AntonEDIT: Could it be bacause "between dog and man" is descriptive (not restrictive)?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

He's thinking that there is a covenant that exists between all dogs and all men.

Clive

Ant_222 · Answer

Thanks, that's interesting!

CalifJim · Answer

I think I would explain it a little differently. The reference is to abstractions, not to physical entities.

It's the covenant between dog-nature and man-nature. (between what-is-dog-essence and what-is-man-essence; between dog-ness and man-ness)
CJ

Ant_222 · Answer

Thanks for another hint. But I am still thinking and can't fully get it (I thought I would with time...).

It's general dog-ness and general man-ness that London refers to by writing "man" and "dog" without an article. But isn't that very (wolf)dog's dog-ness and the man-ness of cerain men?

I hope I am right in thinking that London writes it that way to emphasize the covenant's being part of "the ancient covenant that the first wolf that came
in from the Wild entered into with man". Otherwise he could have used the definite article, I suppose.

Anton

Jackson6612 · Answer

Ant_222Hello all!

I was looking up a word in theFreeDictionary and stumbled across the following sentence from Jack London's "White Fang": «The months went by, binding stronger and stronger the covenant between dog and man.»

Why didn't he write "...between the dog...".

Thanks in advance,
Anton

EDIT: Could it be bacause "between dog and man" is descriptive (not restrictive)?

Suppose he wrote between the dog and man, then would it mean that the is associated with both dog and man, i.e ...the covenant between (the) dog and (the) man.

What do you mean by descriptive and restrictive?

Best regards,
JH

Ant_222 · Answer

Jackson6612uppose he wrote between the dog and man, then would it mean that the is associated with both dog and man, i.e ...the covenant between (the) dog and (the) man.

No, I was referring to the placement of "the" before both "dog" and "man"... I am not sure it would be correct to use "the" only before "dog".

Jackson6612What do you mean by descriptive and restrictive?

Those are standard grammatical terms. Restrictive – something that restricts the meaning of a noun to a single specified object which otherwise would refer to a multitude or a class of objects. Descriptive – something that only describes an object, but does not specify it.
Descriptive: "This is a white car" – we know the color, and it is only a description.
Restrictive "I am the guy that wrote you that letter" – the subordinate clause here identifies the person, so it is restrictive.

Jackson6612 · Answer

Ant_222
Jackson6612uppose he wrote between the dog and man, then would it mean that the is associated with both dog and man, i.e ...the covenant between (the) dog and (the) man.
No, I was referring to the placement of "the" before both "dog" and "man"... I am not sure it would be correct to use "the" only before "dog".

Example Sentence: I want a mango, pineapple, and strawberry.

I believe in the above sentence article ''a'' is associated with all the nouns, mango, pineapple, and ''strawberry. And same is the case with your sentence where article the only comes before dog but it is associated with both dog and man. I believe this is the feature of English grammar. What do you say?

Cool Breeze · Answer

CalifJimIt's the covenant between dog-nature and man-nature. (between what-is-dog-essence and what-is-man-essence; between dog-ness and man-ness)

I agree. We could also say that this is in a way a matter of "opposites" in that people are human, dogs are not. It is normal in English to drop articles with opposites:
from morning till evening, from east to west
CB

Ant_222 · Answer

Jackson6612I believe this is the feature of English grammar. What do you say?

I told you I don't know. Can you find some relevant examples in Google?

CBWe could also say that this is in a way a matter of "opposites" in that people are human, dogs are not. It is normal in English to drop articles with opposites

Am I right that the articles may as well be kept: «From the East to the West \ I love you the best»

Why no article here?

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