sombody confirm my hunch?

[slim1111]

so after struggling with article usage (definite vs. indefinite)
i feel like im starting to see the light, that is if what i think is correct
can native speakers confirm if my idea is correct?

First,

1. Senator Boxer met with members of American Automobile Association
2. Senator Boxer met with the members of American Automobile Association

Just by looking at these sentences alone, I'd say the former is better
I don't know if the latter is wrong grammatically but it sounds a bit weird

Now, if I assume there was a paragraph preceding those sentences
For example,

The democrats were at a fundraising event that featured various unions
and special interest groups.

If this sentence was there before either "1" or "2", wouldn't it make more
sense to say the second? Since judging by this newly added sentence,
I can imagine many groups in the event and "the members of AAA" being
one of them.

[Rover_KE]

1. Senator Boxer met with members of the American Automobile Association.

This means that he met with a number of members.

2. Senator Boxer met with the members of the American Automobile Association.

This means that he met with all the members of the AAA - not possible.

With your preceding sentence, both sentences mean the same - '...with the AAA members who were present'.

Rover

[Munch]

This means that he met with a number of members.



This means that he met with all the members of the AAA - not possible.

With your preceding sentence, both sentences mean the same - '...with the AAA members who were present'.

Rover

I pretty much agree but want to add that "Senator Boxer met with the members of the American Automobile Association." could make sense if the article had previously specified some sub-set of the members and was only referring that group.

For example, "A delegation of members of the American Automobile Association arrived in Washington last week ... STUFF ... Senator Boxer met with the members of the American Automobile Association and told them..."

In this case, it does not refer to ALL members.