THE investigation

Forums: English, Esl, Grammar, The, Articles The A
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Start of a chapter:

-At three in the morning the chief Sussex detective, obeying the urgent call from Sergeant Wilson of Birlstone, arrived from headquarters in a light dog-cart behind a breathless trotter. By the five-forty train in the morning he had sent his message to Scotland Yard, and he was at the Birlstone station at twelve o'clock to welcome us.

Question: For STATION, capital or small S has no difference, pointing to the same thing; but as far as I know, STATION, like PARK and STADIUM, never takes THE; but why does the writer use it?

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@WBYeats,

Sometimes, in situations like this we do use 'the' with the name of a station.

Here's a caption, one place 'the' is used, in a Wiki article describing a Minnesota station; "The Detroit Lakes Station from the south"

If you do a Google Advance search you will be able to see how 'the' is used in situations like this.

Maybe this link will work for you;

https://www.google.ca/search?as_q=&as_epq=%22the+Wolf+Point+Station%22&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=lang_en&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&safe=images&tbs=&as_filetype=&as_rights=

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@JTT,

Thank you, JTT.

Over the past few days I took looks at the link you gave and the passage I quoted, but I still can't figure out why. Why did the writer choose the presence of THE?

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My sentence:

-The number of students attending class is dwindling, because it is (the) flu season.

Do I need THE?

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@WBYeats,

I prefer it with, but it works well (and is not wrong) without.

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@WBYeats,

"flu season" - general reference/ happens routinely

"the flu season" - more specific reference

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Thank you~

My sentence:

-This article is/was from (the) New York Times.

1. Now, say, I am showing the article on screen; IS or WAS? WAS sounds OK because I guess it could be interpreted as I TOOK IT FROM..., the act of taking being in the past.

2. I've checked the official website, and I saw THE NEW YORK TIMES, complying with the usual rule that newspaper names take THE. But can I omit it for succinctness? Or THE is optional and the official website uses THE simply as a matter of indifference on the part of the website manager?

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@WBYeats,

1. Is or was is okay.

If you choose to use "is" (and you are referring to a past edition), then it would be usual to state the date.

2. The name of the paper is The New York Times and that is what you should quote.
However informally, you often hear "That's from today's Guardian", or "Where's my New York Times?"

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@McTag,

Thank you, but I am relentless and I must confirm one thing:

You agree that 'New York Times' is wrong and THE must be used?

=======================

If a book is called Cambridge/Oxford Advanced Grammar, do I need THE?

-According to (the) Cambridge/Oxford Advanced Grammar, this usage is wrong.

1 Reply

@WBYeats,

Quote:

If a book is called Cambridge/Oxford Advanced Grammar, do I need THE?

-According to (the) Cambridge/Oxford Advanced Grammar, this usage is wrong.

You ARE a bit relentless, aren't you? Smile

The answer is the same in this case. It depends on the level of formality you wish to adopt.

examples:
"According to Cambridge..."
"According to my Oxford Advanced Grammar..."
"According to my copy of the latest edition of The Shorter Oxford Dictionary..."

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@McTag,

Thank you~

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At the beginning of an essay:

-In the Old Japanese poetry there is no example of this usage.

I understand as a general idea POETRY should be used without THE, even when preceded by an adjective; but is my THE used correctly?

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@WBYeats,

No.

But if you want to emphasise the point and expand the idea, you could say something like
"In the whole canon of ancient Japanese poetry...."

Otherwise, use Old Japanese without the "the".

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@McTag,

Quote:

"In the whole canon of ancient Japanese poetry...."

Thank you~

But the problem is, I wanted to say the poetry of Old Japanese, not Japanese poetry that is old; would this new situation allow THE Old Japanese poetry? Or could THE used as a short form for THE ENTIRE?

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@WBYeats,

Quote:

I wanted to say the poetry of Old Japanese, not Japanese poetry that is old

Aha. I see.
But I don't think that makes a great deal of difference.

It's clear enough when you write "Old Japanese", and not "old Japanese", that you are referring to the older language.

Again, you could expand it by saying something like " the poetry written in Old Japanese"....."in the entirety of poetry in Old Japanese"...."in all poetry in Old Japanese".

There are a number of ways you could say it, and as you can see, the "the" is not necessary in some of the examples I have given.

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Thank you~

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-We would like to invite you to attend our consultation night on 2th January, 2014 in (the) Hong Wan Zhei Building LT2.

-We would like to invite you to attend our consultation night on 2th January, 2014 in LT2, (the) Hong Wan Zhei Building.

Is THE optional and up to me?

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@WBYeats,

Quote:

Is THE optional and up to me?

Yes, and is not too important. My preferences are below:

a) ....on 2th January, 2014 in the Hong Wan Zhei Building, Room LT2.

b) ...on 2th January, 2014 in LT2, Hong Wan Zhei Building.

(My reason: (a) is more like a sentence, and (b) more like an address)

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Thank you~

===============================================
Situation:

John is writing a book; should he use THE when those large parts have never been mentioned before?:

-They gave comparably generous and skilled attention to (the) large parts of the book.

What difference would the addition or mission of THE make?

1 Reply

@WBYeats,

Quote:

-They gave comparably generous and skilled attention to (the) large parts of the book.

What difference would the addition or mission of THE make?

"skilled" not good here.

"mission" wrongly used.

"the" is wrong there.
To illustrate:
They gave attention to large parts of the book.
They gave close attention to the parts of the book dealing with economics.

1 Reply

THE investigation

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