MSGID: 1:153/716.0 1fb41940
REPLY: 2:221/6.0 61f3c54e
CHRS: IBMPC 2
Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to All:

AK>  Olly Richards, author of the "Teach Youself Foreign 
AK>  Language Graded Readers" series, speaks eight languages 
AK>  and is the man behind the popular language learning blog 
AK>  "I Will Teach You a Language."

AK>  Why is the subj "old stuff"? Because I ask you why there 
AK>  is no "the" article before "author". ;-)


           Not to worry.  Russians tend to struggle with "the" because in
their native language it is used differently.  People from various parts of
southeast Asia tend to struggle with plurals because, in their experience, if
we say e.g. "three men" it's considered redundant to pluralize a noun after a
number... but don't understand that it's unnecessary to pluralize "broccoli",
which is plural in Italian.  Sometimes they overcompensate by saying "juicy
grape" when they're selling grapes by weight, or add an apostrophe + "s" when
they're not sure what else to do.  I've seen examples of what Brits refer to
as "grocer's English"... and the situation is much the same around here.  I
have difficulty with certain inflections I've noticed in other languages which
make very little if any sense to me, and I would be equally baffled by how
this article is used in Russian.

           I mentioned awhile ago that "the" may be optional in a sentence
like "Mrs. Grant is currently in [the] hospital."  AFAIK it wouldn't be
incorrect to add "the" in this case... but in a journalistic style it might be
omitted.  :-)




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