[Grammar] (the) Professor - article?

[tyrp]

Hello everyone,

I'm in doubt about the article to be employed with the word 'professor'. Should we always use 'the' when talking about the person we know or can it be dropped sometimes if we know the person or it's the only professor we know. Will the capital 'P' help in the latter situation?
E.g. (1) Where's Professor? We've got a meeting scheduled for today. / Professor hates to be disturbed.
Does it equal to:
(2) Where's the professor? We've got a meeting scheduled for today. / The professor hates to be disturbed.
What about the capital 'P'? Will it bring any difference to sentence 2?

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[Tarheel]

Hello everyone,

I'm in doubt about the article to be employed with the word 'professor'. Should we always use 'the' when talking about the person we know or can it be dropped sometimes if we know the person or it's the only professor we know? Would the capital 'P' help in the latter situation?
E.g. (1) Where's Professor? We've got a meeting scheduled for today. / Professor hates to be disturbed.
Does it equal to:
(2) Where's the professor? We've got a meeting scheduled for today. / The professor hates to be disturbed.
What about the capital 'P'? Will it bring any difference to sentence 2?

[STRIKE]Thanks for your help in advance![/STRIKE]

I am going to assume that "Professor" is not the individual's name. If that is true, do not capitalize the word. I can visualize:

A. Where's the professor? We've got a meeting scheduled for today.
B. The professor hates to be disturbed.
​

 

[tyrp]

Dear Tarheel, thank you for your help and correcting my mistakes. Would you kindly explain why you marked my 'the' in the question-phrase (it's red now)? The question-mark is clear (just a typo, and I'm really ashamed of it). As for 'would', I see your point, but I used 'will' to show simple future, an action that will or will not be of help, not probability, like 'Will Peter help us wash the dishes?'. Is it absolutely ungrammatical or/and unnatural to use 'will' when discussing possible solutions like in the original question above?

Another question about the professor is still unclear. Do students never nick-name their teachers like that, even if it's the teacher's real status? Is the article necessary then? Do we capitalise the word 'professor' in the text (not after a full stop or at the beginning of the paragraph, which is obvious) if there's a name attached to it?
E.g. I saw Professor Smith in the morning. (NOT I saw professor Smith, right?)

What about the word 'sir'? Do we capitalise it in addresses? When do we capitalise it?
E.g. What's the time, sir? (NOT What's the time, Sir?)
I saw sir Oliver yesterday. (NOT I saw Sir Oliver yesterday, right?)
Dear Sirs, .... (in letters) (NOT Dear sirs,... )

 

[Jill Dorchester]

"Sir Oliver" is the proper form, as "Sir" is a title in this example, just like Mr., Miss, or Dr. Likewise, in the salutation of a letter, the first word and all nouns are capitalized.

e.g. Dear Sirs,
Dear Madam,
etc.

 

[Rover_KE]

E.g. I saw Professor Smith in the morning. (NOT I saw professor Smith, right?):tick:

What about the word 'sir'? Do we capitalise it in addresses? Yes.

When do we capitalise it?

E.g. What's the time, sir? (NOT What's the time, Sir?) :tick:

I saw sir Oliver yesterday. (NOT I saw Sir Oliver yesterday, right?):cross:

Dear Sirs, .... (in letters) (NOT Dear sirs,... ):tick:

`

 

[Tarheel]

Dear Tarheel, thank you for your help and correcting my mistakes. Would you kindly explain why you marked my 'the' in the question-phrase (it's red now)? The question-mark is clear (just a typo, and I'm really ashamed of it). As for 'would', I see your point, but I used 'will' to show simple future, an action that will or will not be of help, not probability, like 'Will Peter help us wash the dishes?'. Is it absolutely ungrammatical or/and unnatural to use 'will' when discussing possible solutions like in the original question above?

Another question about the professor is still unclear. Do students never nick-name their teachers like that, even if it's the teacher's real status? Is the article necessary then? Do we capitalise the word 'professor' in the text (not after a full stop or at the beginning of the paragraph, which is obvious) if there's a name attached to it?
E.g. I saw Professor Smith in the morning. (NOT I saw professor Smith, right?)

What about the word 'sir'? Do we capitalise it in addresses? When do we capitalise it?
E.g. What's the time, sir? (NOT What's the time, Sir?)
I saw sir Oliver yesterday. (NOT I saw Sir Oliver yesterday, right?)
Dear Sirs, .... (in letters) (NOT Dear sirs,... )

That was a goof! (It was supposed to be when taking about a person we know.) Yes, informally the students might say, for example, prof instead of professor. (I am running out of time. Sorry.)