Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hela]

Dear teacher,

A/ Would you please tell me the difference between :

1) The cat is a domestic animal. (= the whole species)
2) A cat is a domestic animal. (= one among that species?)

B/ When do you say :

1) Prime Minister Tony Blair (may I have a sentence as an example, please?)

2) The Prime Minister Tony Blair (went to France last May ?).

Thanks a lot,
Hela

[Hayde]

Hi, I am a Canadian ESL teacher and found your question interesting. I basically have what is known as an American accent. Therefore if you want a British answer, this might not be right. Also, I am not 100% sure about my answer

A/
I can't think of a difference myself except I would use 1 if the context was about cats and I would use 2 if the context was about domestic animals (ie 'A cat' being an example for domestic animals).

B/
1)
Example: (British) Prime Minister Tony Blair met with President (George) Bush to talk about global security.
-The (British) part can sometimes be seen.
-The (George) is not written because it is quite obvious
2)
The only time I would say this is if I needed to inform the listener/reader the Prime Ministers name (ie. extra information), and I would usually use a comma for writing and a pause for speaking.
ex: The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, ...
This is just how I would say it, other people might use it without commas, but I have never heard anyone say that. I am from Central and Eastern Canada.

I hope this helps.
Hayde

[hela]

Thank you Hayde, your answers are quite clear. Now, what do you think of the following explanation:

[Hayde]

No problem.
I definitely (100%) agree that 'the reader already knows what a cat is', and agree (90%) with 'emphasizes the fact that it is domestic.' (the only reason I am saying 90% and not 100% is the quotation is out of context, so I could be wrong)

Again, I hope this helps.
Hayde