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Junkomama
Joined: 17 Oct 2005
Posts: 592
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 Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 12:40 am Post subject: a/the |
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The school was crowded because of a graduation ceremony.
Is it wrong to use "the" instead of "a"?
I think it's a specific graduation ceremony held at the school on that day.
Thank you in advance!
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2006
Joined: 27 Nov 2006
Posts: 610
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| Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 1:55 pm Post subject: Re: a/the |
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| Junkomama wrote: |
The school was crowded because of a graduation ceremony.
Is it wrong to use "the" instead of "a"? It can be wrong.
I think it's a specific graduation ceremony held at the school on that day.
Well every graduation ceremony can be considered to a specific one, but that is not the deciding factor.
If the graduation ceremony is a previously mentioned one, or otherwise understood by both speaker and listener to be the same "specific" graduation ceremony, "the" should be used.
If it's a previously unknown/unmentioned/unexpected one, "a" should be used.
So if there is no context, "a" is correct.
Junkomama |
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Junkomama
Joined: 17 Oct 2005
Posts: 592
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| Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:22 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you so much for your answer and explanation, 2006-san!!
With regards,
Junkomama |
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