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Kiddirts
Joined: 25 Jul 2003
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 Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 4:34 pm Post subject: Grammar question...please help! |
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I felt kinda stupid not knowing this in front of the Korean CEO who graduated at Harvard...but here it is...in which of the following examples should the words in parenthesis exist or be taken out:
There is an apple and (an) orange on the table.
He's a professor and (a) writer.
He's a boss and (a) friend of mine.
I'm the president of CAPS and (the) general manager of Korea.
Thanks a lot...
~Kid |
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hojucandy
Joined: 03 Feb 2003
Location: In a better place
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| Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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| its optional... works fine both ways... probably more often put in though... its more a question of euphony than grammar |
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ajuma
Joined: 18 Feb 2003
Location: Anywere but Seoul!!
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| Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2004 1:28 am Post subject: |
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| When in doubt USE the article!!! In fact, I would consider as incorrect ANY of the OP's sentences if the article in question wasn't included. |
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d503
Joined: 16 Oct 2004
Location: Daecheong, Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2004 6:40 am Post subject: Re: Grammar question...please help! |
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| Kiddirts wrote: |
There is an apple and (an) orange on the table.
He's a professor and (a) writer.
He's a boss and (a) friend of mine.
I'm the president of CAPS and (the) general manager of Korea. |
I am pretty sure that it can also be clarified some in the fact that while it is technically optional to repeat an article in a list, when the list is only 2 words or ideas long the article tends to be used. However if you add a third or more element to the list the likelihood of using the article decreases.
There is an apple, (an) octopus, and (an) orange on the table.
He's a professor, (a) scientist, and (a) writer.
He's a boss. (a) mailman, and (a) friend of mine.
I'm the president of CAPS, (the) CEO of Subway, and (the) general manager of Korea.
In those sentences the article usage is more dependant on stress and I think you are more likely to see them used without the article than when there are only two. |
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