[General] definite article question.

[LiuJing]

Kwame Kilpatrick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The first line:

Kwame Malik Kilpatrick (born June 8, 1970) is the former mayor of Detroit, Michigan.

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My question is about the right use of 'the' . Should it be an 'a' to be put there instead, considering the fact that there are other former mayors of that city?

Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

Kwame Kilpatrick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The first line:

Kwame Malik Kilpatrick (born June 8, 1970) is the former mayor of Detroit, Michigan.

--------------------------

My question is about the right use of 'the' . Should it be an 'a' to be put there instead, considering the fact that there are other former mayors of that city?

Thank you.

I agree. Using "the" suggests that there may no longer be a mayor or that he is the only former mayor (that he is simply the only one that existed before the present one).

 

[Raymott]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Kilpatrick#Sentencing_and_imprisonment
My question is about the right use of 'the' . Should it be an 'a' to be put there instead, considering the fact that there are other former mayors of that city?

Thank you.

"The former mayor" can mean the most recent former mayor. But that's not good writing for a semi-permanent article. He will not always be the most recent former mayor.

 

[LiuJing]

"The former mayor" can mean the most recent former mayor. But that's not good writing for a semi-permanent article. He will not always be the most recent former mayor.

Actually what you have in mind that could possibly occur has happened: he is not the most recent former mayor.

List of mayors of Detroit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Detroit mayors list shows the current mayor is (Should I use 'was' here? I am not sure. ) preceded by Kenneth Cockrel, Jr., who succeeded Mr. Kilpatrick.

 

[Raymott]

Actually what you have in mind that could possibly occur has happened: he is not the most recent former mayor.

List of mayors of Detroit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Detroit mayors list shows the current mayor is (Should I use 'was' here? I am not sure. ) preceded by Kenneth Cockrel, Jr., who succeeded Mr. Kilpatrick.

For the same reason, you should use "is" here if you believe the list is up to date.
Or, you could say, "At the time of publication of the List of Detroit mayors, the current mayor was ..."

However, you'll see on the bottom of that page:
"This page was last modified on 9 June 2010 at 01:13."
So an assumption that it's up to date is reasonable.

 

[asdf1234]

Kwame Kilpatrick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The first line:

Kwame Malik Kilpatrick (born June 8, 1970) is the former mayor of Detroit, Michigan.

--------------------------

My question is about the right use of 'the' . Should it be an 'a' to be put there instead, considering the fact that there are other former mayors of that city?

Thank you.

I would say it depends. If he's the main subject of a piece of writing, then it's appropriate to use the definite article the. If he's not, and just mentioned as an auxiliary subject, then an indefinite article a is the way to go. :lol:

 

[albertino]

(Shift of focus)
It depends. If the author means "he" is the (former) mayor of Detroit and not that of Texas, California, etc., the definite article is okay here.

 

[Barb_D]

(Shift of focus)
It depends. If the author means "he" is the (former) mayor of Detroit and not that of Texas, California, etc., the definite article is okay here.

I don't quite follow this reasoning.

I think "a" makes sense. There have been many former mayors. Remember that Wikipedia entries can be written by anyone.

 

[albertino]

I don't quite follow this reasoning.

I think "a" makes sense. There have been many former mayors. Remember that Wikipedia entries can be written by anyone.

What I mean is that "the former mayor" is modified by the of-phrase, which conveys a sense of definiteness, so the definite article is used here.

 

[LiuJing]

What I mean is that "the former mayer" is modified by the of-phrase, which conveys a sense of definiteness, so the definite article is used here.

No.

You are a student of, let's say, Manila University.
However, I don't think I can say you are the student of Manila University. The reason is simple: there are a lot of students in Manila University.

Let's take another example:

You are the president of the Philippines. I don't think I can say you are a president of the Philippines. The reason is that there is only one sitting president at a time.

 

[Raymott]

What I mean is that "the former mayor" is modified by the of-phrase, which conveys a sense of definiteness, so the definite article is used here.

No. You and asdf have to overcome the objection raised in the original post before you can claim that it's OK. That is, there's more than one former mayor of Detroit, so he can't be defined in the opening paragraph as "the former mayor of Detroit".

However, it is acceptable to refer to him later in the article by that term as an alternative to his name. "Kilpatrick was very popular. The former mayor of Detroit had made many improvements to the city." This is alright because we know which "former mayor of Detroit" we are talking about.

Another example: "Bill Clinton will fly to Israel this week. The former President will meet ..." Used this way, this term obviously doesn't refer to George Dubya.
But you can't introduce a biography of him by saying, "Bill Clinton is the former President of the USA".

 

[albertino]

No.

You are a student of, let's say, Manila University.
However, I don't think I can say you are the student of Manila University. The reason is simple: there are a lot of students in Manila University.
(No, I don't think so. Again, it depends. What if I want to emphasise that I am the student of Manila University and not that of Yale?)

Let's take another example:

You are the president of the Philippines. I don't think I can say you are a president of the Philippines. The reason is that there is only one sitting president at a time. (No. Again, it depends. In the following context, "the" is also acceptable:

A: Who are you?
B: I am the president of the Philippines.)

;-)

 

[LiuJing]

Albertino, you still ain't got it.

The supposed emphasis of yours is not quite valid.

Let's take an example:

He is the headmaster of our school.

The 'the' adopted here reflects the fact that there is only one headmaster at our school, and he is the one. With that 'the', it does not necessarily mean as you might think that this is his only job for a living. He could still serve as the headmaster of School B or a night school somewhere else.

The basic point of the thread has been well explained by Raymott a few posts prior. Please check it out.

 

[Barb_D]

You are a student of, let's say, Manila University.
However, I don't think I can say you are the student of Manila University. The reason is simple: there are a lot of students in Manila University.
(No, I don't think so. Again, it depends. What if I want to emphasise that I am the student of Manila University and not that of Yale?)

This would only work if you have already introduced the idea of two specific students, one from Yale and one from Manila University. Then you could say "Mary is the student from Yale, and Myra is the student from Manila University."