a, the or zero article

[Verona_82]

why not the security guard? Is it because there is more than one security guard? (from Gilnetter's post)

If there're, say, ten security guards at the mall, and I don't care who to talk to, why cannot it be 'a guard"?

 

[Verona_82]

Thank you, Gillnetter.

Now I think I know where all the problems begin. The main bone of contention (for Russian learners, at least) is evaluating the level of being specific. And it's somewhat shaky and subjective, given the fact we think differently.
The rivers of Britain - we single out some British rivers from all rivers in the world as there're plenty of them. They are contrasted with other ones as a group.
Rivers in Britain - they're no longer specific. And we no longer contast them with other rivers in the world. As there're plenty of rivers in Britain, we don't know which ones are being discussed.

Using the definite article is like giving our interlocutor a sign that they can guess which or what object we're talking about. COnsidering all this,
I'm looking for the hat. - Saying 'the hat' triggers an intensive mental process in the poor guard's head ('which hat? which hat? which hat?") and he arrives at the conclusion that you're interested in finding the hat you might have lost.
WHy is that not possible?

 

[Verona_82]

Insufficient? Is 'the rivers of Britain" more sufficient? :roll:

I woke up late and hurrued to the bathroom. - there isn't much infornation about what bathrom we're talking about, isn't it? We have to - and can - deduce it.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work with hats.

----
White flag. I give up.

 

[5jj]

I woke up late and hurried to the bathroom. - there isn't much infornation about what bathrom we're talking about, isn't it? We have to - and can - deduce it.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work with hats.

One of the problems is that we are talking about situations. If you hurry to the bathroom/toilet, etc, the idea of needing to relieve yourself is as present in your mind as much as movement towards a room. If you were in a large public building, you could still ask the way to the bathroom/toilet, even if it were reasonable to suppose there there were several. Similarly, you might ask the way to the exit

It's similar to I am going to the pub. The speaker may well know that the listener does not know which specific pub is referred to. This is not important. The speaker could just be meaning that s/he is going out for a drink.

 

[nyota]

It's similar to I am going to the pub. The speaker may well know that the listener does not know which specific pub is referred to. This is not important. The speaker could just be meaning that s/he is going out for a drink.

So you're going to *the* pub because you want to have a drink there - the main purpose of the place takes over.
Isn't purpose similarly relevant with a bunch of other nouns? This time, however, it's the lack of the that points to the primary use of an object/ place.

I was sleepy so I went to bed. (its primary use is for :sleeping: ...supposedly)
Did you see my book? It's on the bed.
I go to church every Sunday. (for a mass, to pray there)
I went to the church to have a look at the new altar.

You've got to love articles.

 

[nyota]

I do understand where you're coming from with your explanation but your use of 'specific' is quite tricky here in the context I've given, because it makes it look as if it's the 'specificity' setting that determined the use of the definite article 'the', which is not the case. Please tell me how it is not.

If I want something to cover my head, I could say:
I want a hat - any hat
I want a red hat - of all hats, I only those that are red
I want the red hat in the display area - of all hats, I want that particular hat.

I can't check now, but I think the notion of definiteness also includes having a physical referrent (I didn't write it earlier). When you say I want the red hat in the display area it suggests the hat's physically there.

In general terms, the hat obviously *is* specific, you're right, and that's how I would explain it to somebody else. But in light of the theory/description I gave, 'specific' and 'definite' stood for different things and the specificity setting wasn't the decisive one. In other words, the terminology makes it tricky only when you put it against the forementioned theory.

 

[5jj]

So you're going to *the* pub because you want to have a drink there - the main purpose of the place takes over.
Isn't purpose similarly relevant with a bunch of other nouns? This time, however, it's the lack of the that points to the primary use of an object/ place.
Often, but I can think of the bank, the post office, and, possibly, the chemists's. If I say, "I haven't been to the doctor (or dentist) for years", I think I am doing the same thing.

5

 

[nyota]

Some things you just have to learn by heart. ;-)