[Grammar] Man up and vanished like a fart in the wind

Status
Not open for further replies.

Madness1

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2020
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Great Britain
In "Shawshank Redemption" warden Samuel Norton discovers that Andy has escaped from prison. Then he makes this comment: "Lord! It's a miracle! Man up and vanished like a fart in the wind."

Shouldn't this actually be 'The man up and vanished...'?

Why is there no article before "man"?
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
In "The Shawshank Redemption" warden Samuel Norton discovers that Andy has escaped from prison. Then he makes this comment: "Lord! It's a miracle! Man up and vanished like a fart in the wind."

Shouldn't this actually be 'The man up and vanished...'? Yes.

Why is there no article before "man"?
Omitting words is common in casual, informal conversation.
 

Madness1

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2020
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Great Britain
I do know that omitting words happens quite a lot, but I can't say I have ever heard anyone omit articles, save for a few widely recognised exceptions.
If I had read this sentence not knowing where it originally came from I would assume it was uttered by a non-native who forgot the article rather than assuming that it was dropped on purpose.
 

jutfrank

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
It's not very common to omit articles like that, which I suppose explains why it seems so odd to you. In fact, I'd say it's common only to a few dialects.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top