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Articles/ sentences
Message from a_limon posted on 12-07-2012 at 18:36:11
Hello!
Tell me please whether one must put the article before every subject of the sentence if they are separated with the conjunctions "or","and","but","not"? For example.
1)The cat and (the?) dog were sitting on the floor in the room. It is two different subjects (not one).
2)Who was sitting on the floor in the room:the dog or (the)cat?
3)It was the dog,not (the) cat,sitting on the floor.
4)The cats were hungry,but dogs. (their owner had not enough money to feed them all good enough.)
Thank you for your answers.
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Edited by lucile83 on 12-07-2012 18:56
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Edited by lucile83 on 14-07-2012 08:56
Message from a_limon posted on 12-07-2012 at 18:36:11
Hello!
Tell me please whether one must put the article before every subject of the sentence if they are separated with the conjunctions "or","and","but","not"? For example.
1)The cat and (the?) dog were sitting on the floor in the room. It is two different subjects (not one).
2)Who was sitting on the floor in the room:the dog or (the)cat?
3)It was the dog,not (the) cat,sitting on the floor.
4)The cats were hungry,but dogs. (their owner had not enough money to feed them all good enough.)
Thank you for your answers.
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Edited by lucile83 on 12-07-2012 18:56
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Edited by lucile83 on 14-07-2012 08:56
Re: Articles/ sentences by gerondif, posted on 12-07-2012 at 19:09:24
Hello,
Yes, put "the" with both.
1)The cat and the dog were sitting on the floor in the room. It is two different subjects (not one).
2)Who was sitting on the floor in the room:the dog or thecat?
3)It was the dog,not the cat, that was sitting on the floor.
4)The cats were hungry,but??(and so were the dogs ? but the dogs weren't?) dogs. (their owner had not enough (didn't have enough money)money to feed them all good (well, adverb) enough.)
Thank you for your answers.
Re: Articles/ sentences by a_limon, posted on 12-07-2012 at 19:26:59
Hello,gerondif!
The cats were hungry,but??(and so were the dogs ? but the dogs weren't?) dogs. What I meant is The cats were hungry,but the dogs weren't. Could one omit this"weren't" in colloquial?
Tell me please whether it is possible to say the sentence "It was the dog,not the cat, that was sitting on the floor." the way
like "It was the dog,not the sitting on the floor cat." If it is yes, then is it necessary to put the comma before the "cat"?
Re: Articles/ sentences by gerondif, posted on 12-07-2012 at 19:41:24
Hello,
The cats were hungry, but the dogs weren't?. Could one omit this"weren't" in colloquial?
NO !!! But you could say: The cats were hungry, NOT the dogs !
Tell me please whether it is possible to say the sentence "It was the dog,not the cat, that was sitting on the floor." the way
like "It was the dog,not the sitting on the floor cat.NO !! Your sentence sounds like a grammatical joke !!
What I meant is exactly what Lucile wrote about further down!
Re: Articles/ sentences by a_limon, posted on 12-07-2012 at 20:10:02
Hello! A grammatrical joke? What do you mean? Though I am guessing,but not for sure."It was the dog,not the sitting on the floor cat.NO !! Your sentence sounds like a grammatrical joke !!
I know that the participle phrase could be used at the beginning of the sentence before the noun.Sitting on the floor,cat was too fat to jump the table. But could we use the participle phrase in the middle of the sentence before the noun? "I saw (the) sitting on the floor cat." Maybe,it is not possible. That is why it sounds like joke?
Re: Articles/ sentences by lucile83, posted on 12-07-2012 at 21:00:12
Hello a_limon
You make me think of Molière, a French writer. In 1670 he wrote a play whose title is Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme.
In that play a man tries to write a sentence in a lot of different ways. Of course it is all wrong but funny.
Re: Articles/ sentences by gerondif, posted on 13-07-2012 at 07:46:16
Hello,
no, it is not possible !
Sitting on the floor, the cat was too fat to jump on to the table. Sitting is a present participle and is in apposition to the subject. But it is too long and unsuitable to be used as an epithet .
Re: Articles/ sentences by a_limon, posted on 13-07-2012 at 16:19:48
Hello!
Sitting on the floor, the cat was too fat to jump on to the table. Sitting is a present participle and is in apposition to the subject. But it is too long and unsuitable to be used as an epithet .
You mean that "sitting on the floor"is too long and we must use participle phrases right after the subject?(The cat sitting on the floor was too fat.)It seems to me if the participle phrase points the subject without adverbial function (while,when,as he was sitting)it is better to use it after the subject,not before it. Whether am I right?
Could you tell me whether I'm right if I consider that "sitting on the floor" is descibing the cat in the sentence 1)and the dog in the sentence 2)
1)It was the cat,not the dog,sitting on the floor.
2)It was the cat,not the dog sitting on the floor.(without commar after dog)
Thank you in advance.
Re: Articles/ sentences by gerondif, posted on 13-07-2012 at 19:32:20
Hello,
You mean that "sitting on the floor"is too long and we must use participle phrases right after the subject?(The cat sitting on the floor was too fat.)YES. The sitting and whining cat was too big is ok BECAUSE the present perticiples are used as adjectives, BUT if you use "sitting on the floor", it is in fact a part of a sentence and cannot be used as an adjective:
(The cat was) sitting on the floor (and) it was too fat to jump on to the table.
It seems to me if the participle phrase points the subject without adverbial function (while,when,as he was sitting)it is better to use it after the subject,not before it. Whether am I right?
Could you tell me whether I'm right if I consider that "sitting on the floor" is descibing the cat in the sentence 1)and the dog in the sentence 2) YES.
1)It was the cat,not the dog,sitting on the floor.
2)It was the cat,not the dog sitting on the floor.(without commar after dog)
