with or without 'the'?

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Hi,Consider the following sentence:In the «Past meetings» you can see meetings scheduled to an earlier time than the current time.(Here "Past meetings" is a list of certain past (concluded) meetings).Q#1: What piece of grammar stands behind using the definite article before "Past meetings" in the sentence above?If it were "In the "Past meetings" list you can see..." it would not raise any questions of course...Q#2: Also, what about the article-free variant,In «Past meetings» you can see meetings scheduled to...??Hope my questions make sense...mus-te

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Consider the following sentence -- But it is wrong, so I will have to fix it first:

With the «past meetings» you can see they were scheduled for an earlier time than now. (Here "past meetings" is a list of certain past (concluded) meetings).

Q#1: What piece of grammar stands behind using the definite article before "Past meetings" in the sentence above?--Just as it says: it is a list of certain past meetings.

If it were "In the "Past meetings" list you can see..." it would not raise any questions of course...-- Of course, but 'the' could be omitted also in that case, too.

Q#2: Also, what about the article-free variant, In «Past meetings» you can see meetings scheduled to...??-- Those are OK, too. The article is often omitted for plural nouns.

MUSCOVITE · Answer

Thank you for the prompt (and detailed!) answer, Mister Micawber!

Mister MicawberWith the «past meetings» you can see they were scheduled for an earlier time than now. (Here "past meetings" is a list of certain past (concluded) meetings).

Looks like the meaning of this sentence is a little different from what was originally expected (imho)?

A few words about the "context" (I should have made the context clearer of course...). There is is window divided into two panes. One pane is called "Scheduled meetings", the other - "Past meetings". In the Past meetings pane, there are listed some past/concluded meetings. In the Scheduled meetings pane, one can see a list of scheduled and ongoing meetings.

Now, I just saw a suspect sentence when reading their user's guide (meaning the sentence starting with "In the "Past meetings" you can see...." Note that the words "Past meetings" were enclosed in double quotes there, exactly as specified in my original post....

Let me recap (just to be sure I got your comments correct)

(1) In the "Past meetings" you can see conferences scheduled to an earlier time than the current time (BAD English)
(2) In the "Past meetings" pane you can see conferences... (OK?)
(3) In the Past meetings pane you can see conferences... (OK? doesn't matter whether the double quotes are used or not)
(4) In Past Conferences you can see conferences...(OK?)
(5) In Past Conferences pane you can see conferences..(OK? the definite article can be omitted before "past"?)

Thanks again! Looking forward to your final yes's and no's

mus-te

Mister Micawber · Answer

#1-5 seem fine to me; only #5 seems to call for the article, as #2 and #3 do. Because it is a singular noun ('pane'), not a plural one ('meetings/conferences').

(There is no difference, of course, between 'meetings' and 'conferences' grammatically, so that this is fine, too: In Past Meetings, you can see...)

MUSCOVITE · Answer

Many many thanks, Mister Micawber!

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