[Grammar] Attainment of the goal v.s. the attainment of the goal

[cubezero3]

Hi, everyone.


I bumped this example sentence whilst looking up 'attainment' on a dictionary website.

We may drop everything and set out on a crash course that we think will lead to rapid attainment of the goal.
https://www.lexico.com/definition/attainment

Here, attainment means the fact that one's achieved something. The goal tells us we know which goal the speaker is talking about. Then, how could attainment be used in an indefinite sense?

For me, you either have achieved the goal or you haven't. Attainment could only be used in a definite sense.

The website is 'powered by OXFORD', and I guess there must be a way of seeing attainment as an indefinite fact.

I'd like to hear your opinions.

Richard

 

[jutfrank]

Are you asking why there's no the before rapid attainment?

 

[cubezero3]

Yes, Jutfrank, that's what I want to find out about.

 

[Tarheel]

Hi, everyone.


I saw this example sentence whilst looking up 'attainment' on a dictionary website.




Here, attainment means [STRIKE]the fact[/STRIKE] that one's achieved something. ***** Then, how could attainment be used in an indefinite sense?

For me, you either have achieved the goal or you haven't. Attainment should only be used in a definite sense.

The website is 'powered by OXFORD', and I guess there must be a way of seeing attainment as an indefinite fact.

I'd like to hear your opinions.

Richard

I think "the" is optional there.

 

[jutfrank]

It's correct as it is, without the.

 

[teechar]

Here, attainment means the fact that one's achieved something. The goal tells us we know which goal the speaker is talking about. Then, how could attainment be used in an indefinite sense?
For me, you either have achieved the goal or you haven't. Attainment could only be used in a definite sense.

No. The fact that it is attainment of something does not necessarily make the use of "the" mandatory. That applies to other nouns too, not only "attainment".

Attainment of target sales figures as well as expansion of customer base are two of the most important promotion criteria.
Attainment of perfect knowledge is the goal of Buddhism.
Attainment of total independence is what that nation is striving for.
Educational attainment of teenagers in the state was the main subject of that study.

Note that including "the" in the above would not be incorrect, but it is not necessary.

 

[Alexey86]

The fact that it is attainment of something does not necessarily make the use of "the" mandatory.

Does it have something to do with the fact that "attainment" is a verbal noun? I've read somewhere that such nouns, many of which have the form of a gerund, tend to be used without articles.

 

[teechar]

Does it have something to do with the fact that "attainment" is a verbal noun?

Possibly, but I don't think it's exclusive to verbal nouns.

 

[jutfrank]

Does it have something to do with the fact that "attainment" is a verbal noun?

No.

I don't think of attainment as verbal.

 

[Alexey86]

jutfrank said,
I don't think of attainment as verbal.

I'm surprised. To me, it obviously provides a verbal meaning, which is the act of achieving something.

jutfrank said,
It's correct as it is, with the.

There is no "the" in the cubezero3's example.

 

[jutfrank]

There is no "the" in the cubezero3's example.

Thanks for pointing out that major error, Alexey86. I've amended post #5 now.

I've read somewhere that such nouns, many of which have the form of a gerund, tend to be used without articles.

That sounds interesting, though I can't imagine how that could be. Do you remember where you read it?

 

[Alexey86]

Unfortunately, I can't remember exactly where I first read this, but I've found a blog post that makes the same distinction between the verbal/non-count and non-verbal/count meaning of some nouns (https://guinlist.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/19-noun-countability-clues-2-activity-locations/). "Attainment" can also be considered an action or its result.

Here's an excerpt from the post,


(a) Competition between shopkeepers keeps prices down.

(b) Business is carried out between 9.00 and 17.00 hours.

(c) Introduction of the topic will take about 15 minutes.

(d) Speech distinguishes humans from animals.

The highlighted nouns can be recognised as uncountable because they are in the singular form without any article before them (see 110. Nouns without “the” or “a”). They can be recognised as activities because they can usually be replaced by a verb with -ing, e.g. competing, doing business (see 14. Action Outcomes). Their value in English is considered in the Guinlist post 131. Uses of “Action” Nouns. Also relevant are 31. Prepositions after Action Nouns 1 and 49. Prepositions after Action Nouns 2.

If, on the other hand, these nouns are used countably, they will represent activity locations, as in these examples:

(e) A football competition is scheduled for next week.

(f) A business known around the world is MacDonalds.

(g) An introduction to a report can be found at the beginning.

(h) A speech well delivered can win many votes.

A competition is an event, often sporting, where people try to perform better than others in order to win prizes. It is a typical place where competition takes place. Not all competition is found in competitions, though. Competition between sellers, for example, is found in the market place. But competitions are a major location of competition. Note that if you replaced competition in (a) with a competition, the sentence would be saying that shopkeepers keep prices down by playing sports against each other!

In the same way, a business (an organization devoted to commercial activities) is a major place where business takes place, but is not the only possible place because private individuals can also do business; an introduction is a special kind of text at the start of a longish piece of writing or speech (note how it is followed by to not of), but not all introduction is done in introductions; and a speech is a formal oral delivery given for such purposes as thanking, persuading or honouring, but not all speech takes place in speeches (think of babies).