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.  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
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