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Purdue OWL News for May 4, 2004
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The Purdue OWL Staff
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May 04, 2004 08:25 PDT
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The Purdue OWL News
May 4, 2004
Welcome to the Purdue OWL News!
The Purdue OWL News is an online newsletter about happenings in the
Purdue University Writing Lab and the Purdue University Online Writing
Lab (OWL). You can visit our website at
<http://owl.english.purdue.edu>. To subscribe to the newsletter, visit
<http://www.topica.com/lists/purdueowlnews/subscribe/>. To unsubscribe
from the newsletter, click on the link at the bottom of this email.
Writing Question of the Week
I have learned to use an article or a modifier with every countable
noun, (a pen, my cup, the book I lost) but sometimes I see setences
where there is no article or modifier infront of a countable noun. For
example, "Dr. Davis is president of the university" is grammatically
correct according to people I have asked. Shouldn't it be "Dr. Davis is
THE president of the university"? How about "George Bush is President of
the United States of America"? Can I then write "He is friend of mine"
or should I always write "He is a friend of mine" to be correct? I also
see the sentence below in an online dictionary to explain the word
"treachery", but again I see no modifier or article before "leader" and
feel something is missing and should be "the leader". But since it comes
from a dictionary, it must be grammatically correct. "Corley said she
was standing down as leader because of the treachery of her own
colleagues."
I am beginning to feel that articles are omitted when there can be only
single instance of the noun. For example, there can be only one
president of the USA at one time, and there can be only one leader in
the context of the sentence above. But since there can be more than one
friend of mine, I should say "a friend of mine". Am I making a correct
guess? I would be very grateful if you can clear my confusion and
misunderstanding about this matter. Is it required to have a modifier in
front of every countable noun? If not, what's the rule which dictates
when an indefinite or definite article or a modifier isrequired and when
not necessary?
Answer
You ask a difficult question. The OWL tutors have been discussing it
and none of us is aware of a rule that governs this phenomenon. The
closest rule that I could find, written in a handbook, refers to plural
count nouns: if you are making a generalization, you do not need to use
the article in front of plural count nouns (the plural count noun in
this case means "all" or "in general"). Two examples following this
rule are: 1) "Bats are night feeders" and 2) "First-year college
students are confronted with many new experiences."
But both examples you give are instances of a singular count noun.
While both sentences are correct without the article, they would also be
correct with the article. (As a rule, if you are not sure, I would
recommend using the article). My collegues and I have come up with a
few ways of thinking about your examples. First, we think there is a
very subtle difference in emphasis depending on whether or not the
article is used. In the sentence, "Dr. Davis is president of the
university" the emphasis seems to be on the position -- specifically as
a continuing position that is only temporarily filled by Dr. Davis. In
the sentence, "Dr. Davis is /the /president of the university" there
seems to be more emphasis on Dr. Davis than in the previous sentence
without the article.
We hypothesize that using an article is not necessary before the title
of a position that existed before and will continue to exist after the
spedific person currently in the position. Thus, the position of
"president of the university" existed before Dr. Davis held it and will
continue to exist after Dr. Davis leaves it. Likewise, the position of
"leader" is a continuing position occupied by a specific person. You
also asked about saying that someone is a friend of yours. You do still
need the article in that instance: "He is /a/ friend of mine." This is
especially true because the "a" emphasizes that he is "one of many"
friends.
Have suggestions about rules for using articles with countable and
uncountable nouns? Please send them to us!
The OWL Help Nest
Each week we'll publish a request for advice or information. If you wish
to contribute a response to the topic, please write to us at
owln-@owl.english.purdue.edu. Please let us know if you want us to
include your name and/or your email address when we publish your
information or advice. The following week, we'll publish the best
information and advice that we receive in the newsletter. If you have a
question for our readers, please send it to us at
<owln-@owl.english.purdue.edu>.
Last Week's Question
What is it? "I didn't like him sending me a message", or "I didn't like
his sending me a message". Why?
We didn't receive any answers to last week's question, so we'll run some
new questions this week.
This Week's Questions
Could someone, please, direct me to a source which gives examples of how
to cite material inside a business letter? I have spent hours looking
and have contacted research librarians. I can readily find information
about writing business letters, and many online sources have links to
MLA, APA, etc.; however, I have been unable to find a business letter
actually incorporating the citation. Any help that you can give will
be much appreciated.
Not being a native speaker, I only recently came across adverbs like
always / never / often / sometimes being used with "used to." Is this
correct and perfectly acceptable in standard English or should such
adverbs be avoided? E.g.: "I always / never / often / sometimes used to
go to the cinema." What puzzles me most is the expression "sometimes
used to" as to me "sometimes" does not express the habit or regularity
that "used to" does. Can you help?
What's Happening On OWL
OWL Eye on... Additions to our APA Workshop
We've added portions of a sample master's thesis with comments from
professors to our American Psychological Association (APA) style
workshop. You can visit the workshop at
<http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/apa/index.html>.
What's Happening in the Writing Lab
OWL Eye on ... Writing Lab Remodelling
The Writing Lab will be closed on May 6, May 7, and May 10 for
remodelling. Look for a new and improved Writing Lab during Maymester
and Summer Semester!
Final Thoughts
Thanks for reading our newsletter. You can email us at any time at
owln-@owl.english.purdue.edu. You can also email the OWL coordinator,
Karl Stolley, at <coordi-@owl.english.purdue.edu> and the webmaster,
Erin Karper, at <webma-@owl.english.purdue.edu>. (Erin and Karl take
turns writing the newsletter.)
If you received this newsletter as a forward and would like to get your
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This newsletter is copyright (c) 2004 the Purdue University Writing Lab
and Purdue University. Purdue's OWL is located at
<http://owl.english.purdue.edu>.
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