Articles are completely useless in the English language, grammar police where are you to weigh in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So they help track referents, in a similar way that pronouns do.

We can refer to the same entity as: a kid/this kid/Andrew/the kid/him ... but if we have more than one boy that we might be talking about, then the articles help us keep track of them.

1. "I saw Andrew this morning. A kid drove his scooter straight into the wall."
2. "I saw Andrew this morning. The kid drove his scooter straight into a wall."

In #1, Andrew is NOT driving the scooter, but in #2, he could be.

Thank you. This is a good example. OP here. Seeing your example, I thought of another one, but it is still ambiguous. Mike is reckless. The kid's got issues. I do think it could go both ways though. If you said" I saw Andrew this morning. Kid drove his scooter straight into a wall."
I would still assume it was Andrew.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of all the things to complain about the English language, you pick.........articles?

Most ESL people complain about articles in English. Yet, is there a need for them? If you pause and think about it without being defensive, what is really gained by the use of articles? Sure, it sounds right, but useless to the meaning.

[Anonymous]

OP. C'mon. Is the Average American good at making correct assumptions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of all the things to complain about the English language, you pick.........articles?

Most ESL people complain about articles in English. Yet, is there a need for them? If you pause and think about it without being defensive, what is really gained by the use of articles? Sure, it sounds right, but useless to the meaning.

But they're not useless. They add meaning. So there's a need for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of all the things to complain about the English language, you pick.........articles?

Also, other things have some order. Have, have been, have had been...whatever.
There is some need for that madness, but articles? I am not thinking about it maliciously, I was on a long drive and such random analysis popped in my brain. And I thought that the dcum grammar police would be great at analyzing this issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of all the things to complain about the English language, you pick.........articles?

Most ESL people complain about articles in English. Yet, is there a need for them? If you pause and think about it without being defensive, what is really gained by the use of articles? Sure, it sounds right, but useless to the meaning.

But they're not useless. They add meaning. So there's a need for them.

Ok, what meaning do they add? Outside elementary ESL classroom examples?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. C'mon. Is the Average American good at making correct assumptions?

Perhaps you are right. People are just defensive, and I am trying to have a meaningful debate, unlike articles in the English language!
LOL!
I am begging to be given an example that proves me wrong.
Though, both my kids had no grammar lessons in schools in MCPS. They had them in their British school.

[Anonymous]

Again, I am not saying that there has to be logical meaning to languages, plenty do not have a ton of logic, just that we can get by without the use of articles.
I am not attacking anyone personally, just saying.
We can get by without (skip the) use of articles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Again, I am not saying that there has to be logical meaning to languages, plenty do not have a ton of logic, just that we can get by without the use of articles.
I am not attacking anyone personally, just saying.
We can get by without (skip the) use of articles.

So just stop using them. You can feel free to sound like you have a limited grasp of the English language, and you can believe you are correct. Win/win. But nobody has to join you in your worthless crusade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of all the things to complain about the English language, you pick.........articles?

Most ESL people complain about articles in English. Yet, is there a need for them? If you pause and think about it without being defensive, what is really gained by the use of articles? Sure, it sounds right, but useless to the meaning.

Pretty much everyone learning a foreign language has something to complain about. Why are nouns gendered in German? Why are nouns and adjectives declined in Russian? Why are "he", "she", and "it" pronounced the same in Mandarin? Why do you always have to use subject pronouns in French, but not Spanish? Why does English have so many verb conjugations and Japanese so few? Why does word order vary so much between languages? I find the differences fascinating, and there is a reason languages are the way they are. It gives you insight into the culture and history.

In Italian, to say "my", you either use "il mio", "la mia", or "i miei", depending on the quantity and gender. You could drop the "il", "la", and "i" and be completely understandable, but it is not good Italian. I'm sure that if I knew what the op's first language was, I could find something else that is "useless" or "illogical". So what?

[Anonymous]

OP - I am wondering if your doctoral dissertation/conference abstract/work report got heavily edited by someone - I get it - it is hard to write in a language other than your mother tongue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of all the things to complain about the English language, you pick.........articles?

Most ESL people complain about articles in English. Yet, is there a need for them? If you pause and think about it without being defensive, what is really gained by the use of articles? Sure, it sounds right, but useless to the meaning.

But they're not useless. They add meaning. So there's a need for them.

Ok, what meaning do they add? Outside elementary ESL classroom examples?

I gave you an example up thread of a medical case report: THE patient experienced acute vomiting and vertigo vs A patient tends to present with dyspnea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again, I am not saying that there has to be logical meaning to languages, plenty do not have a ton of logic, just that we can get by without the use of articles.
I am not attacking anyone personally, just saying.
We can get by without (skip the) use of articles.

So just stop using them. You can feel free to sound like you have a limited grasp of the English language, and you can believe you are correct. Win/win. But nobody has to join you in your worthless crusade.

Why are you insulting me? I am not on any crusade. I am trying to debate something. You clearly don't know how to debate in a civil manner. I did not attack your mom or dad, just the use of the article.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - I am wondering if your doctoral dissertation/conference abstract/work report got heavily edited by someone - I get it - it is hard to write in a language other than your mother tongue.

Not so much, mostly superficial fixes and to make it sounds more English. That is not why I posted this, not at all. In academia you do what is dramatically correct, not a single edit goes without me taking a look and deciding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again, I am not saying that there has to be logical meaning to languages, plenty do not have a ton of logic, just that we can get by without the use of articles.
I am not attacking anyone personally, just saying.
We can get by without (skip the) use of articles.

So just stop using them. You can feel free to sound like you have a limited grasp of the English language, and you can believe you are correct. Win/win. But nobody has to join you in your worthless crusade.

Wow! The greatness of the dcum mind! Just yelling..