With THE or without

Question

How do we know when it is necessary to us THE and when it's not?She is doing the washing up.What is the reason why we use THE here? Why not just She is doing washing up.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

How do we know when it is necessary to us THE and when it's not?

She is doing the washing up.

What is the reason why we use THE here? Why not just

She is doing washing up.

Without 'the', it sounds like a very general statement.
eg She is doing washing up, but she hates it. She prefers cooking.

'The' makes it much more specific.
eg She is doing the washing up (from when we ate breakfast this morning).

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks it helps. Still some other examples are not clear.

1 He came for fishing.
2 He came for the fishing.

(Why is the 1 one wrong?)

AlpheccaStars · Answer

For #1, I would say:

He came to fish. (That was the reason that he came. )

#2 is OK, but does not sound as natural to me. I would prefer the above or using "fishing" as an adjective, or as a gerund with descriptive adjectives:

He came for the fishing tournament.
He came to Green River for its excellent trout fishing.

Ticce · Answer

This is exactly what complicates the matter. How can you explain that - He came for fishing - doesn't work?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

This is exactly what complicates the matter. How can you explain that - He came for fishing - doesn't work?

Say that it's not incorrect grammar, but that it is not idiomatic. In other words, it sounds a bit odd to native speakers.

Clive

CalifJim · Answer

I don't think we ever use "for + gerund" to express purpose, do we?

*I came here for eating.
*I went to the library for reading.
*They set the DVD aside for watching later.
*We traveled to Germany for seeing the sights.
*Paul bought the battery cables for using in case of emergencies.
________________________

But there are cases where the predicate can normally add "for + gerund", with a meaning like because of. These gerunds have to do with reasons, not purposes.

Henry was arrested for [fishing / hunting] without a license.
The ski patrol thanked us for skiing only on the marked trails.
Professor Curmudgeon was awarded a Nobel prize for discovering how to count positrons.
_________________________

And it seems to me that "for the + gerund" is reserved for cases when the gerund indicates an activity that has attracted us to a place because it is particularly enjoyable there. The activity is normally a kind of leisure activity. In any case, only an extremely limited number of verbs can appear in this grammatical pattern.

I came here for the fishing, not for the hunting. (to enjoy the good fishing is implied.)

Every winter we go to Snowy Mountain for the skiing. (to enjoy the good skiing is implied.)

CJ

Ticce · Answer

I always like CalifJim's answers. The only thing is not clear.

Why hunting is not the case? Can't we enjoy the hunting?

CalifJim · Answer

I assume you're talking about this sentence:

I came here for the fishing, not for the hunting. (to enjoy the good fishing is implied.)

Imagine that the speaker is answering a question like one of these:

What did you come here for? For the fishing? For the hunting?

Did you come here for the hunting?
What reason did you have when you came here?

The speaker is contrasting two things in his answer:
the fishing which is possible/available/permitted here
and the hunting which is (or is not) possible/available/permitted here.

The speaker is saying that he came here in order to enjoy the fishing (activities), but not to enjoy the hunting (activities). He is explaining the reason which caused him to travel to this place. He says that the reason has to do with the fishing activities he can do and enjoy here. He says that the reason does not have to do with the hunting activities. He may not even know if hunting activities are possible here. The speaker mentions the hunting only to correct any possible mistake his listener might have made in thinking that he (the speaker) came to enjoy the hunting activities here.

He does not say why he did not come for the hunting. It may be that hunting is not allowed here. It may be that he doesn't like to hunt here. It may be that the hunting is not very enjoyable here. His words only focus on the reason he came here. Of two possible reasons (fishing, hunting), he selects 'fishing' as the reason that he is here. It was the possibility of enjoying fishing that attracted him to come here. It was not the possibility of enjoying hunting that attracted him to come here.

Maybe someone else came here for the hunting, that is, to enjoy the good hunting -- but not this speaker. This speaker came for the fishing.

Does that help?

CJ

Ticce · Answer

Thanks a lot. It helps.

Ticce · Answer

By the way. Could someone submit other examples where gerund shouldn't be used in certain situations with certain prepositions? As we see it here....

for + gerund (purpose) - doesn't work

(I think it's a hard one, but may be someone will come up with the idea.)

With THE or without

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