(the) English tense

The following is from Merriam Webster.

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http://i.word.com/idictionary/can
M-W:
usage Can and may are most frequently interchangeable in senses denoting possibility; because the possibility of one's doing something may depend on another's acquiescence, they have also become interchangeable in the sense denoting permission. The use of can to ask or grant permission has been common since the 19th century and is well established, although some commentators feel may is more appropriate in formal contexts. May is relatively rare in negative constructions (mayn't is not common); cannot and can't are usual in such contexts.

Is THE optional?:

1. (The) KCSU (=King's College Student Union) was set up in 1670.
2. Today we'll go to (the) Beika Department Store.
3. (The) OUSU (=Oxford University/Open University Student Union) was set up in 1670.
4. We visited (the) Aso Shrine. (or whatever shrine)

The third one is difficult; we say Oxford University, no THE; but THE Open University, always THE.

Following the pattern of my dialect:

1. No

2. Yes, depending on context.

3. If they say so.

4. Do you mean the Aso Shrine in Kumamoto?
Context context context

Thank you~

For 1, you say it is not optional; do you mean THE must be used or must NOT?
1. (The) KCSU (=King's College Student Union) was set up in 1670.

For 3, (The) OUSU (=Oxford University/Open University Student Union) was set up in 1670.

What decides whether THE is optional for student union names? (it depends on whether we use THE for the body/organization that this union belongs to or?

I've got about three minutes here before I'm off to work, so this is cursory. Your own corpus cite, JTT, shows that in fact "may" DOES" function for permission, as I contended. May be not that common, but it certainly does. never said otherwise, and for people who use it they're most likely following the prescriptive rule , which functions AS A RULE FOR THEM IN THEIR CHOICE OF LANGUAGE, as I've maintained all along.

And on another topic you've brought up, you say


Nonsense. Language is a social construct. Social constructs operate by any number of prescriptive rules. Language is no exception. Test it. The next dozen people you meet, say "******* glad to meet you". The next dozen times you use a sentence with a negative in it, use a double negative instead. Note the reactions. Be careful you don't get your block knocked off in the former. There are prescriptive rules against those usages, which people DO follow. Anyone who contends otherwise does not live in the real world. Your anonymous citee is apparently one of those people.

Damn, took too long, I'm late.

Of course MAY is used for permission, you terribly confused man. I have never so much as hinted that MAY isn't used for permission. Why would you raise such a ludicrous notion.

The issue is the nonsense that CAN means only ability and CAN is wrong used for permission. That is the idiotic prescription.


Yes, language is a social construct but it's not rules of grammar that stop us from doing as you suggest, it's social rules that keep us within bounds.

Language scientists know that people operating naturally do not follow prescriptions because in the writing and speaking of those who pretend they are
"rules", they soon break the "rules".

You really are way out of your league, Jack.

You'll have to address this to someone from the UK, WB.

Either is fine. It's really optional:

(The) Oxford University Student Union was set up in 1670.

(note, here you're really referring to the student union and not to the university. The university would always be referred to without the article.)

I wonder whether there is another Oxford University Student Union so that the article is not optional.

You're still misunderstanding, JTT, as usual. I'm going to be extremely busy thru Thursday, before you can expect a detailed reply showing your fallacies. In the meantime, think on the way you seem to equate "language" with "grammar". They're not equivalent, or parallel, terms. More of a subset, tho that's not exactly the relationship.

What's the difference with the optional THE?:

-Sometimes we just want to detach our mind(s) from reality and (the) worries of life.

Ojamashimasu.

um...Oxford Advanced does not have 'Ojamashimasu'; what does it mean?

Coy, WB.

Is THE optional?:

-(The) one-child policy has been implemented for many years.

No.

Thank you; then must I use it, or must I not use it?

If something is not optional then it is required.

Thank you~

1. How come it is so? If something is not optional, then it could either be required, or it must not be used. Do you not agree?

2. Is THE optional, by analogy of 'As (the) chief of the Pentagon, he is...':

-When US president Barack Obama appointed (the) chief of the Pentagon, he made a grammatical mistake.

3. Is THE optional?:

-By (the) analogy of 'They or he is there', we can use the singular verb for 'Neither they nor he is there'.