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Thu 14 Feb, 2019 09:39 am
I'm just curious whether it is grammatically correct to use the article "a" before "cold lake" in Elton John's song "Cry to Heaven", "There are many graves by a cold lake, as the beds were when your babies are born?" If yes, then the lake must be unknown to the singer, and if so, the information about the lake must have been made available to the singer by someone who has seen before. Is that the sort of reasoning behind using the indefinite article "a" in this line?
"A" is used for certainty, like when giving directions, "three blocks down you'll see a corner store where you'll turn left."
In the song the sense is that John is giving a locational description of these graves similar to the directional example I used above.
@alexsnapper,
Quote:There are many graves by a cold lake, as the beds were when your babies are born.
Analysing illiterate drivel written by Bernie Taupin is not a recommended way of studying the English language.
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