Why not use "the authors" but "authors?"

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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 991 • Replies: 6

[+3] - Lustig Andrei - 10/30/2011No reason except brevity. Grammatically, it would mean the same with or without the definite article "the".

View best answer, chosen by oristarA

@oristarA,

No reason except brevity. Grammatically, it would mean the same with or without the definite article "the".

3 Replies

@Lustig Andrei,

Thanks

0 Replies

@Lustig Andrei,

Lustig Andrei wrote:

No reason except brevity. Grammatically, it would mean the same with or without the definite article "the".

Not quite, I think (sorry to contradict!). There is more going on here.

This is a quote from a news item. Such pieces often follow a certain style:

1. Headline, a very condensed summary of the content

Tourist: "Koreans Eat Dogs, And They Taste Great!"

2. A description in general terms of what is to follow. This is often called a "lead sentence" or "topic sentence". It tells the reader what to expect and makes them curious.

Many people in Korea are fond of eating dog meat, and Westerners should try it too, a tourist says.

(Note: 'a' tourist.)

3. A more exact account with details. This answers the questions provoked by the topic line e.g. What tourist? Where does he live? What dogs did he eat?

"I have just returned from a vacation in Seoul", says the tourist, John Smith from Poughkeepsie, "and I tasted a number of dog dishes. My favorite was grilled terrier and I also enjoyed spaniel soup with noodles. I plan to open a dog restaurant as soon as I can."

Thus in the original story the topic is first introduced in a general way and "authors" is used in a non specific way without an article (i.e. some or all of the authors). Then a fuller explanation is given and the identity of the authors is spelled out in detail (i.e. the authors - that is - all of the authors) led by Professor Whatever at Somewhere University.

To see the effect of using an article, consider the following:

Pupils of Lakeville High school met Bill Gates yesterday. (An unspecified number of the pupils met Bill Gates)

The pupils of Lakeville High school met Bill Gates yesterday. (All of them met him)

1 Reply

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

Lustig Andrei wrote:

No reason except brevity. Grammatically, it would mean the same with or without the definite article "the".

Not quite, I think (sorry to contradict!). There is more going on here.

This is a quote from a news item. Such pieces often follow a certain style:

1. Headline, a very condensed summary of the content

Tourist: "Koreans Eat Dogs, And They Taste Great!"

2. A description in general terms of what is to follow. This is often called a "lead sentence" or "topic sentence". It tells the reader what to expect and makes them curious.

Many people in Korea are fond of eating dog meat, and Westerners should try it too, a tourist says.

(Note: 'a' tourist.)

3. A more exact account with details. This answers the questions provoked by the topic line e.g. What tourist? Where does he live? What dogs did he eat?

"I have just returned from a vacation in Seoul", says the tourist, John Smith from Poughkeepsie, "and I tasted a number of dog dishes. My favorite was grilled terrier and I also enjoyed spaniel soup with noodles. I plan to open a dog restaurant as soon as I can."

Thus in the original story the topic is first introduced in a general way and "authors" is used in a non specific way without an article (i.e. some or all of the authors). Then a fuller explanation is given and the identity of the authors is spelled out in detail (i.e. the authors - that is - all of the authors) led by Professor Whatever at Somewhere University.

To see the effect of using an article, consider the following:

Pupils of Lakeville High school met Bill Gates yesterday. (An unspecified number of the pupils met Bill Gates)

The pupils of Lakeville High school met Bill Gates yesterday. (All of them met him)

Excellent!
Thank you Contrex.

0 Replies

@Lustig Andrei,

No doubt that is the intention, but there is a slightly different shade of meaning which is maybe worth mentioning.

authors = some authors (although this doesn't work well in the present example)
c.f.
the authors = all of the authors

edit: if I had read the foregoing first....

1 Reply

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

No doubt that is the intention, but there is a slightly different shade of meaning which is maybe worth mentioning.

authors = some authors (although this doesn't work well in the present example)
c.f.
the authors = all of the authors

Yes. The use of just 'authors' the first time looks to me like what you might expect in a topic sentence where you first give an outline or summary, the details to be supplied later.

Mayhem was created in a city centre mall by dogs yesterday. At the upmarket Central Gallery Mall, floor cleaners had to work overtime after the two dogs, three-year-old Bonzo and two-year-old Towser, "did their business" in an estimated total of 36 separate locations, after swallowing laxative pills left out by their owner earlier in the day.

0 Replies

Why not use "the authors" but "authors?"

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