Hi, Paul!  Recently you wrote in a message to alexander koryagin:   
      
    ak>  "The definite article is used in front of countable nouns   
    ak>  representing a whole class or category of something."   
      
    PQ>  That's nice.  Boring text books.   
      
      
             For many native speakers of English they are.  I was bored out of my   
   gourd in grammar classes until I met Miss Langwidge, who assigned her students   
   questions I couldn't easily answer.  Part of the attraction may have also have   
   been that she made it a voluntary activity outside the usual class hours.  ;-)   
      
      
      
    ak>  The blue whale is thought to be the largest animal ever   
    ak>  to have lived.   
      
    PQ>  Absolutely.  (Yes, in this case it is a good example.)   
      
      
             Agreed, but I'd like to introduce a cautionary note here.  As native   
   speakers of English we tend to think of xxx as a variety of meat.  For some of   
   the aboriginal peoples of Canada, however, "whale" is another source of animal   
   protein... and I understand there are Inuit tribes in Russia too.   
      
             Note to self:  add further examples in which the name of the meat is   
   not the same as that of the animal on the hoof.   
      
      
      
    PQ>  It is a difficult language, this English.   
      
      
             It can be, because it's actually a mixture of various languages.  In   
   many ways our modem buddies in Russia & northern Europe are better equipped to   
   understand the grammar than the average native speaker of English because they   
   learned the language from textbooks initially.  When you learn a language that   
   way you'll see lists you've probably never seen in English because you're just   
   supposed to know... and according to some prominent linguists who got a lot of   
   attention during the 1960's traditional grammar is irrelevant.  I count myself   
   very fortunate that I seem to have been born with a knack for it... that I met   
   Miss Langwidge at an impressionable age... and that I don't miss a beat when I   
   see the same terminology used in a recent dictionary and/or in this echo.  :-)   
      
      
      
    PQ>  I need more chocolate.   
      
      
             I hear you.  Chocolate contains something or other which many people   
   find useful as a pain reliever... [grin].   
      
      
      
    PQ>  And some advice from Ardith, I'm sure.   
      
      
             I take that as a compliment.  And I'm always delighted to help folks   
   who care enough about this weird & wonderful language to ask for help....  :-)   
      
             I have some ideas on the subject which I think will be easier for my   
   friends here to understand when I've organized them into a logical sequence...   
   and that will take me a day or two.  Meanwhile I see that what is obvious to a   
   native speaker of English may not be to everyone.  We speak of flour & sugar &   
   meat because that's the way we were taught.  The Russians speak of countable &   
   uncountable nouns because that's the way *they* were taught.  And as classroom   
   co-ordinator my job is to put all this stuff together into a lesson plan.  ;-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)