jutfrank
VIP Member
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2014
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- England
- Current Location
- England
Your explanations are always helpful, even if I don't fully understand them or feel satisfied. But let's take a broader look. This discussion is not only about you and me. I'm sure it can also be helpful for other learners having difficulties with articles. At least I noticed that my threads about articles are read by many visitors.
Aren't we exploring these ideas right now? If you mean reading books, the problem with them is I can't talk with their authors, but I can talk with you, which is priceless.
Okay. Thanks for saying that.
Can we apply this to other features: the wheel of car, the steering wheel of car, the door of car and so on?
No, it only applies to what I call 'category' words. Things like colour, size, length, etc. They must be abstract qualities, not physical objects or parts.
What does you drive modify in "The colour of car you drive says a lot about you"? What confuses me about this sentence is that without the article it sounds as if it's the colour of car that is drove.
That's right. That's why it's wrong. You can't drive a colour.
I really don't understand in what sense The colour of the car you drive says a lot about you is not about the colour in the first place.
It is. Did I suggest it isn't?
I remember that you don't want to take a deep dive into the definite article. Would you just give me a context or two where you would only use the colour of the car?
Q: Alexey, what do you think about my new car and boat?
A: I like the colour of the boat but I don't like the colour of the car.
There's reference to the colour and the car and the boat, which is why the speaker uses the.