[Grammar] When should I use the articles (talking about the physical materials)?

[bvv94693]

Dear all,

I have a huge problem with the articles. I know that I should use them when I talk about the countable things, but what about the physical materials?

I know that I should say 'diamond', not 'the diamond'. What about '(the) nanocrystalline diamond'? Should I use 'the'?

Additionally, is the sentence 'The roughness of the top side of (the) nanodiamond is greater than graphene' correct? Should I use 'the' before 'top side'?

The last question - is 'Raman spectra' countable? Can I say: 'The Raman spectra of graphene is noisy'?

Thanks in advance!

 

[5jj]

Welcome to the forum, bvv. :hi:

I know that I should use them when I talk about [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] countable things, but what about [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] physical materials?

Note my corrections above.

I know that I should say 'diamond', not 'the diamond'.

That depends on the context. What sentence containing the word' diamond' have you in mind?

That's enough questions for one thread.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Dear all,

I have a huge problem with [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] articles. I know that I should use them when I talk about [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] countable things, but what about [strike]the[/strike] physical materials?

What do you mean by physical materials? Do you mean things like water and steel and dirt? Materials are often countable.

I know that I should say 'diamond', not 'the diamond'. What about '(the) nanocrystalline diamond'? Should I use 'the'?

It depends on the sentence. Sometimes nanocrystaline diamond should have an article, and sometimes it shouldn't.

Additionally, is the sentence 'The roughness of the top side of (the) nanodiamond is greater than graphene' correct? Should I use 'the' before 'top side'?

Yes.

Regarding your parenthetical (the): If you're talking about a particular diamond, use the. If you're talking about nanodiamonds generally, it's correct with no article, with the, and with a.

The last question - is 'Raman spectra' countable? Can I say: 'The Raman spectra of graphene is noisy'?

Yes. The is required there.

Thanks[STRIKE] in advance[/STRIKE]!

Welcome, BVV!

Articles are tricky. Why do we say a cold but the flu but pneumonia? It has to do with the history of each word.

(Cross-post.)

 

[bvv94693]

Thank you for the answer.

I was thinking about 'We fabricated diamond using HF-CVD technique'.

In my case, the more precise sentence will be: 'We fabricated (the) nanodiamond layer using HF-CVD technique'.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Welcome to the forum, bvv. :hi:
. . . That depends on the context. What sentence containing the word' diamond' have you in mind? . . .

Yes. BVV, always give us full sentences to consider. Thanks!

 

[bvv94693]

Yes. BVV, always give us full sentences to consider. Thanks!

Sure!

I was thinking about the sentence: 'The diamond was deposited on the p-type silicon using a HF-CVD reactor'.

To be more precise, I would like to use this sentence: 'The nanodiamond layer was deposited on the p-type silicon using a HF-CVD reactor'.

Are both sentences correct?

 

[jutfrank]

'The diamond was deposited on the p-type silicon using a HF-CVD reactor'.

Yes, that's correct. I'm quite confident that the person who wrote that sentence was thinking of diamond as a material (uncountable) rather than as an object (countable), but we can't be sure.

'The nanodiamond layer was deposited on the p-type silicon using a HF-CVD reactor'.

Yes, that's also correct. The article the goes with layer in this sentence.