Call or name nouns without articles

[Joea]

I wonder if you can just say "key" instead of a key or keys, like babies do, under the justification that you simply "name" the object. So for example, you look at the keys in your hand and say, "key, key, ... "


Thank you

 

[MikeNewYork]

What does that mean? We can say "key" or "keys" depending on the context.

 

[Joea]

What does that mean? We can say "key" or "keys" depending on the context.

Thank you. I know that you have a choice to say depending on the context. Here, what I am trying to say is regardless of singular and plural forms, I mean it could be either one or more keys you have, can we just say a word "key" in singular form without making any sentence, to indicate the object like babies do?

A: These are keys
B: um.......key.

Is B's response, who simply just stated the natural name of the object, acceptable or even correct?


Or somebody is simply looking at keys on the table. can this person just say "key" in singular form just to indicate that he is calling the natural name the object?


Thank you

 

[MikeNewYork]

We are not babies. If there are more than one key, we say "keys".

 

[Joea]

Thank you. This is great.

Then, let me ask you one more thing that why do you guys teach, with flash cards, the names of objects, without article "a"?
So, you are taught a word "key" with a picture, and then as soon as you turn your back to look at a key on a table, you don't say "key" anymore, but "a key" instead. Am I right? What is this?

 

[SoothingDave]

We select an article or not as appropriate based on context.

Since we don't have genders of nouns, we don't have to teach our children if it's "el key" or "la key" (to use Spanish articles as an example) We can just learn the word "key."

 

[bhaisahab]

Please correct the information in your profile, Joea.

 

[Joea]

Thank you SD. I think i understand what you mean, although the spanish example complicates the matter a little.

and to bhaisahab, The edit key wouldn't lead to editing mode and I don't see how to even PM you this message.

 

[SoothingDave]

If you spoke Spanish, for example, and were teaching your child how to read, your flashcard would say "la llave" for "key." The article "la" is taught along with the word because Spanish words have gender. "Llave" is feminine.

In Spanish, you don't see the word without its article.

It is the same for other languages with gender, like French or Italian.

In English, we don't have gender, so we don't have to learn which article goes with which noun. So our flashcards simply say "key."

 

[Joea]

Thank you SD again. I understand that, then let's forget about gender articles and look at english articles.
You do have "a" and since you would never say a noun without article "a" in life, why don't you put this one on flashcards?
I wouldn't blame dictionary since you would have plural forms but with picture flashcards teaching apple, when in actual life you can't say the word apple without "a"?

so my question is why just the word when you are not allowed to use the word only without articles?

i hear kids just simply name objects dropped of the article: nest!, bird!, tree! - maybe is this part something to do with all this? Then are they correct or will you just say it's a baby talk?

 

[SoothingDave]

The point is teaching the vocabulary, not the grammar of articles.

It's a bit of a waste of ink to keep printing "a" on every card.

It's not a necessary part of the definition of the word the way it is in other, gendered languages.

 

[Joea]

Thank you SD. It's really good. Then hang on and answer one more; i think you missed my last question and i will put that here again:
I hear kids saying tree!, nest!, bird!, so on, dropping the article, when they look at the actual objects, would you say these are just a baby talk?

 

[SoothingDave]

"Baby talk" is not countable.

It would certainly seem odd if an adult ran around naming all of the objects that he sees. But if an adult were to do so, I would expect him to use proper articles. Look, an elephant!

 

[charliedeut]

I hear kids just simply name objects dropped of the article: nest!, bird!, tree! - maybe is this part something to do with all this? Then are they correct or will you just say it's a baby talk?

That's not exclusive of English. I have two kids who speak (of course) Spanish (and Catalan, but that's beside the point). They both did that, and adults who were with them would "correct" them by saying something like "yes, it's a nest" or "yes, it's a bird" or " yes, it's a tree". Gender issues are not really important to this topic in particular, as far as I can see.

PS: Please note that the personal pronoun "I" is always capitalized, irrespective of its position in a phrase or sentence.

 

[Joea]

Thank you very much, SD and charliedeut. I really appreciate it.

 

[Rover_KE]

There is no need to write a new post to say Thank you, ​Joea. Simply click the Thank button on any posts you find helpful. It means that we don't have to open the thread again to read your new post and then find that it doesn't include any new information or an additional question.

It saves everybody's time.