Hi! Alexander,   
      
   On Thu, 18 Sep 14, you wrote to me:   
      
    PQ>> That's okay. I might have said, "Please, tell me, is anybody in   
    PQ>> ward 10?".   
      
    ak> Should I feel some remorse about the article "the" before "ward"?   
    ak> Although, any determiner word theoretically should serve for   
    ak> clarification, not for grammar. Here we probably don't need "the"   
    ak> because we say the ward number?   
      
   Yes.  A hospital's ward is usually referred to by number (and sometimes by   
   name, e.g. Intensive care, Recovery or Post-op[eration]).   
      
    ak> From another side, when somebody says that he is studying in the 10th   
    ak> grade he uses "the" after all.   
      
   Well, it works both ways in that instance.  He could either be said to be   
   studying in the 10th grade, or simply, grade 10.   
      
    ak>>> "Gosh! It means I really manage to escape?"   
      
    PQ>> 8-) I'm thinking that the question mark _could_ be an   
    PQ>> exclamation mark, instead. That's just me thinking out aloud.   
      
    ak> IMHO, he wasn't so sure so to say it with an exclamation mark. ;)   
      
   Yep, I see the humour in it now.  :)  (BTW.  As stated by Mark, it should have   
   read "...really managed to...".   
      
    ak>>> There was a fashion for torn jeans. Now there is a fashion for   
    ak>>> torn T-shirts. When, at last, will appear a fashion for torn   
    ak>>> socks?   
      
    PQ>> "Will it ever be fashionable to wear torn socks?" :)   
      
    ak> IMHO, in my sentence there is a longing ;), but in your variant I   
    ak> hear only wondering.   
      
   With your version I hear a non-English-speaking person saying it.  ;-)  The   
   longing is there in mine, still.   
      
   Cheers,   
   Paul.   
      
   ... Only those who attempt the absurd achieve the impossible.   
   --- Paul's Win98SE VirtualBox   
    * Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)