Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[navi]

Which ones are correct:

1-The John at the post office thinks things will change.
2-John at the post office thinks things will change.

3-The John who works at the post office thinks things will change.
4-John who works at the post office thinks things will change.

5-John, at the post office, thinks things will change.

In which sentences the clause is defining (we have more than one Johns and we are trying to make it clear which John we are talking about)?

[bud]

There can only be one John at the post office for each ot these sentences. The other John (or John's) must be somewhere else. All five of them would work. The last could be confusing in a specific context, because all John's are at the post office sooner or later.

But beware, we'd only use "the" in this specific example, as far as I can imagine. That is, we might use it when more than one John is in the context of the conversation and we are unscrambling the possible confusion.

[navi]

Thanks a lot Bud,

Would you use 2 and 4 (the ones without "the") if there is only one John or when there are more than one Johns and only one of them works at the post office?

[bud]

My pleasure, Navi.

All of them work if there is only one John who works at the post office. None of them work if there is more than one John who works at the post office.

Certainly "the" would be used only if there was at least one other John who does not work at the post office, but I don't think it (the "the") is necessary. I don't even know if it is considered "correct" English, but it definitely is used in casual conversation.

Probably at least one of the people in the conversation does not know any of the John's very well. Otherwise, it'd be more likely to say, "John Rogers thinks..."

A conversation using it (the "the") might go something like this:

Barry: John thinks things will change.
Larry: Really? Who's John?.. You mean the John who is a mechanic at that garage on Elm St.?
Barry: No, I'm talking about the John who works at the post office.
Larry: Oh, that John! It figures!

[Blossom]

I was told that the john is the toilet.

Is that what is meant here?

[bud]

No, here it is a man's name.

Often in casusal situations, we will say, "I have to use the john" rather than, "I have to use the bathroom."

[river1974]

[bud]

It's similar to, "Of course!" or "I should have known."