[Grammar] Joining the hunt is unlikely young hero Wade Watts.

[kadioguy]

(The synopsis of the movie Ready Player One)

Director Steven Spielberg’s science-fiction action adventure reveals a chaotic, collapsing world in the year 2045. Salvation lies in the OASIS, a fantastical virtual-reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday. When Halliday dies, his immense fortune is left to the first person who can find a digital Easter egg hidden in the OASIS. Joining the hunt is unlikely young hero Wade Watts, who is hurled into a breakneck, reality-bending quest filled with mystery, discovery and danger.

https://www.amazon.in/Ready-Player-Steelbook-Blu-ray-3-Disc/dp/B07NRN3684
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I am not sure why there isn't a determiner before the blue part, i.e., a unlikely young hero Wade Watts.

Is the because the blue part is used as something like a title, which is given to Wade Watts? (just as in this example: Dr. Brown)

I assume if it was written this way:

a unlikely young hero Wade Watts

then the blue part would be an appositive.

What do you think?

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, you're on the right lines.

If you use the article a, you would be using Wade Watts as a countable noun. That's ungrammatical and senseless. The only way to do it would be to put Wade Watts into brackets, which would make the article determine hero instead. But that's not what the writer meant.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

It would be fine with or without an article. If you think the subject is hero, then the and an would both make sense. If you think the subject is Wade Watts, then the words in blue are adjectives and no article belongs there.

The choices are:

- unlikely young hero Wade Watts
- an unlikely young hero, Wade Watts
- the unlikely young hero Wade Watts

Notice the comma. Also notice that before unlikely, an - not a - is correct.

(Cross-post.)

 

[kadioguy]

Yes, you're on the right lines.

If you use the article a, you would be using Wade Watts as a countable noun. That's ungrammatical and senseless. The only way to do it would be to put Wade Watts into brackets, which would make the article determine hero instead. But that's not what the writer meant.

Thank you, jutfrank.

It would be fine with or without an article. If you think the subject is hero, then the and an would both make sense. If you think the subject is Wade Watts, then the words in blue are adjectives and no article belongs there.

The choices are:

- unlikely young hero Wade Watts
- an unlikely young hero, Wade Watts
- the unlikely young hero Wade Watts

Notice the comma. Also notice that before unlikely, an - not a - is correct.

(Cross-post.)

Thank you, Charlie Bernstein.

In the "the" version why can the comma be omitted? Could you tell me?

 

[jutfrank]

In the "the" version why can the comma be omitted? Could you tell me?

Your question doesn't make sense. If the word the is omitted, how can it be a 'the' version?

My advice as usual is to forget about other ways to say what the writer doesn't mean and focus on the use of this example, which is a very good one. As long as you keep trying to write the sentence in other ways, you're going to lose focus on this specific use in this specific context.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . In the "the" version why can the comma be omitted? Could you tell me?

The world has more than one unlikely young hero. It tells us which one: Wade Watts.

- She stole the pie on the window sill. (There were twenty pies. That's the one she stole.)

- She stole the pie, on the window sill. (There was one pie. She stole it from the window sill.)

 

[kadioguy]

The choices are:

- unlikely young hero Wade Watts
- an unlikely young hero, Wade Watts
- the unlikely young hero Wade Watts

Notice the comma.

In the "the" version why can the comma be omitted? Could you tell me?

Your question doesn't make sense. If the word the is omitted, how can it be a 'the' version?

Hi, jutfrank.

What I said is why the comma in the "the" version can be omitted.

 

[jutfrank]

I said is why the comma in the "the" version can be omitted.

Oh, sorry. My mistake.

Forget about the 'the' version. You're getting distracted and that's going to confuse you. Ask why there is no comma in the actual version.

Focus on what you're trying to do. You have seen an example of use of language which has stood out to you. You now want to better understand this strange new use. You must focus on the form, the meaning, and the effect, and then you will start to understand the use. You must remember to bear in mind the context and style and genre of the whole passage.

Do not try to change any of these things.