Reply
Sat 27 Aug, 2011 09:28 am
Context:
YOUTH
Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a body of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.
@oristarA,
.... is
a matter of the will,
a quality of the imagination,
a vigor of the emotions...
In each case, "a" implies one of several, not "the only" member of each set of properties.
@fresco,
fresco wrote:
.... is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions...
In each case, "a" implies one of several, not "the only" member of each set of properties.
Thank you.
I've always had a hard time on how to use "a" and "the" properly.
I wonder why "the time of life; ... the state of mind" is not proper but "a time of life; ... a state of mind" is right.
@oristarA,
Youth means
a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity,
of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.
------------------------
Why not use "the" there?
@oristarA,
Quote:Why not use "the" there?
You probably could without much harm; the writer chose otherwise. Good writing (as opposed to merely "correct" writing) is as much a matter of making good stylistic choices as it is of getting the grammar and usage correct.
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