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Politics : Stop the War! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: AK2004 who wrote (19642)	7/21/2003 5:28:15 PM
From: jttmab	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21614

Sincec my English is very poor, freely admit to that, I would like to learn :-)) As a non-native speaker, I think it's quite good [slander aside]. if "What is Senior Scientist?" is an incorrect construction while "What is the Senior Scientist?" is correct then the rule that I stated is not simplistic but simply incorrect. Simplistic would mean that while the rule is true at times, there are exceptions. If I try a proper noun...What [or, where] is Milan? i.e, a city [or, in Italy], I wouldn't say What is the Milan? or what is a Milan? Proper nouns would not use an article. Capitalizing Senior Scientist suggests it's a proper noun. Though it's not. It becomes clearer by writing.....What is a senior scientist? Another exception. Medical illnesses are supposed to use articles. I have no idea why, but according to Fowler's [a grammar and usage book] you're supposed to. So you should say...."What is the flu?" or "what are the measles? But you shouldn't say..."What are measles?" Though that construction is used so frequently, no one would likely notice. There are so many exceptions that it's rare to have any one rule. "What is orange?" Asks what the color orange is. While "What is an orange?" asks what the orange fruit is...."Where is the orange?" Is either asking where the orange color is in something or where is a specific orange [fruit]. Can't tell without more context. And children everywhere should be thankful I don't teach English. jttmab