tyrp
Member
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2011
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Russian
- Home Country
- Ukraine
- Current Location
- Ukraine
Hello everyone,
I was reading up for an English test the other day and found the following info in a quite old school Grammar book. Are the examples below correct? Could you possibly explain them to me?
1. The student Mary was absent from the lesson yesterday (not 'student Mary', though we say 'Doctor Smith', 'Queen Elizabeth' and 'the poet Longfellow', the latter taking the as thee apposition 'poet' refers to a famous personality).
2. I prefer a dry wine (not 'dry wine'; will the correct continuation be: 'I prefer a dry wine to sweet', without any article before sweet as it has no headword?)
3. 'He asked for permission to come late' (AFAIK we cannot drop 'for', can we? The uncountable noun 'permission' never takes any article, does it?)
4. It'sreal spring (not 'a real spring'. Is it so as the use of 'real' here is close to the adverb 'really' or why?)
5. No article is required with the names of magazines (Cosmopolitan, not 'the Cosmopolitan'; 'Vogue', not 'the Vogue', though 'the' is a must with newspapers) - this was a complete novelty for me, who ranked magazines and papers together.
6. The word 'Parliament' never takes 'the', as well as 'Congress' (I knew of the latter, but am not sure of the word 'Parliament').
7. Ann studies literature of the 18th century and Nick is interested in Soviet literature (not 'the Soviet literature').
8. Mary isdaughter of a hunter (her social status - what's meant by that?) / the daughter of a hunter (even if she has sisters and no more info is given about her; this is given as the most popular use) / a daughter of a hunter (to stress that she has sisters).
I know that these questions sound silly, but they set me thinking and got perplexed, though I do know the better part of the rules about articles (or simply hope so).
Could you possibly tell me if this info is correct and up to date? Thanks in advance, I pin all my hopes on you as always.
I was reading up for an English test the other day and found the following info in a quite old school Grammar book. Are the examples below correct? Could you possibly explain them to me?
1. The student Mary was absent from the lesson yesterday (not 'student Mary', though we say 'Doctor Smith', 'Queen Elizabeth' and 'the poet Longfellow', the latter taking the as thee apposition 'poet' refers to a famous personality).
2. I prefer a dry wine (not 'dry wine'; will the correct continuation be: 'I prefer a dry wine to sweet', without any article before sweet as it has no headword?)
3. 'He asked for permission to come late' (AFAIK we cannot drop 'for', can we? The uncountable noun 'permission' never takes any article, does it?)
4. It'sreal spring (not 'a real spring'. Is it so as the use of 'real' here is close to the adverb 'really' or why?)
5. No article is required with the names of magazines (Cosmopolitan, not 'the Cosmopolitan'; 'Vogue', not 'the Vogue', though 'the' is a must with newspapers) - this was a complete novelty for me, who ranked magazines and papers together.
6. The word 'Parliament' never takes 'the', as well as 'Congress' (I knew of the latter, but am not sure of the word 'Parliament').
7. Ann studies literature of the 18th century and Nick is interested in Soviet literature (not 'the Soviet literature').
8. Mary isdaughter of a hunter (her social status - what's meant by that?) / the daughter of a hunter (even if she has sisters and no more info is given about her; this is given as the most popular use) / a daughter of a hunter (to stress that she has sisters).
I know that these questions sound silly, but they set me thinking and got perplexed, though I do know the better part of the rules about articles (or simply hope so).
Could you possibly tell me if this info is correct and up to date? Thanks in advance, I pin all my hopes on you as always.