Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jjurabong]

Hi all,

I was asked by a Korean friend today why, when applying for a job, we drop the article before the position - "I'm applying to work as instructor/ I'm applying for the position of instructor"..

I told him that the first case would keep the article (as ) unless that job was a title. But then I remembered that we can use the expression "to serve as + job without article. I also told him that the second wouldn't have an article ( of ) because "of instructor" is a prepositional phrase that modifies the noun "position". Was I correct?

I couldn't remember if there were any rules regarding this, and promised to check. However, I'm having difficulty finding resources online for this.

Any explanation or suggestions for websites that might have an explanation or rule would be great.

Thanks in advance.

[jjurabong]

pretty please?

[ChopChaeJoe]

Your post seems a bit muddled. "I'm applying to work as instructor." is not correct English. Additionally, "as" and "of" are not articles.

[jjurabong]

Sorry for the confusion..

I know that as and of are not articles. In the example:

I held the position of instructor - the article "an" is omitted before instructor.

My friend wanted to know why in that case, we can omit the article even though instructor is a countable noun.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

[huffdaddy]

[jjurabong]

Huff - You can be my guru anytime -

That was exactly what I wanted.

Thanks so much..

[Hotpants]

I don't think either of your example sentences can be correct, especially, I would never say the first example without an article.

Remember that articles can be omitted in certain types of formal reports of academic theses. You could perhaps class your expressions under this category, and thus may be written on a resume without an article for purpose of brevity and formality. However, on the accompanying cover letter, I don't think your sentences are acceptable without an article.

It was a KOREAN colleague who came to you with this question. How good is their English really?

Any other takers?