Question
Updated on
30 Nov 2021
- Simplified Chinese (China)
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English (US)
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Japanese
Question about English (US)
Why isn't there an article in this sentence "Yet he is lord of all the animals."? This is from the book Animal Farm, below is the context:
Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself.
I would say "Yet he is THE lord of all the animals." instead.
Why isn't there an article in this sentence "Yet he is lord of all the animals."? This is from the book Animal Farm, below is the context:
Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself.
I would say "Yet he is THE lord of all the animals." instead.
Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself.
I would say "Yet he is THE lord of all the animals." instead.
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30 Nov 2021
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- English (US)
@GunKneeNeon you could say that, but also the author could be religious and didn't want to use " The Lord" in reference to humans.
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- English (US)
stylistic choice. There is alot of that in english.
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- Simplified Chinese (China)
@lwulitich3 My question is: how can I know whether I can omit an article in front of a noun without grammatical problem? As I know, it doesn't apply to all nouns in English.
- English (US)
That is hard to answer. That is more of an experience thing. typcially they can be omited when the word offers no meaning or has no constructive value to the formation of the sentence.
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- Simplified Chinese (China)
@lwulitich3 I see your point. So in this case, both "he is lord of all the animals" and "he is THE lord of all the animals" are grammatically correct right? If so, what's the different nuance in meaning between them?
- English (US)
@GunKneeNeon They are both correct. i do not think there is a specific nuance. perhaps the first one could be taken as sarcasm but that's about it.
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- Simplified Chinese (China)
@lwulitich3 Thanks, that makes sense. The last question, I found a description about this kind of Zero Article usage, it says "An article is unnecessary in official job titles if there is only one person holding this position at any given time." I'm wondering if "lord" in my example sentence is an Official Job Title.
- English (US)
@GunKneeNeon you could say that, but also the author could be religious and didn't want to use " The Lord" in reference to humans.
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