Hi, Alexander! Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

The head is part of the body.

It can be understood that "This head is a part of
this body" A criminal investigation. :)

Archaeologists & criminologists may at times be called upon to identify various body parts which have been separated for whatever reason(s). In such a situation, however, I'd say "xxx is part of yyy" as I did there.

In my example I used "head" & "body" in a general sense... and as Anton has pointed out, "the" is often used in such a context. When grammarians speak e.g. of "the article" or "the dictionary" they don't mean to imply there's only one they regard as worthy of serious consideration. They believe that if their readers aren't quite sure what an "article" is they know how to look it up, and that they'll get +/- the same answer regardless of where they look.... :-)

And why not "a body"?

I guess because it's already been taken. In dialectical English it may mean a person, not necessarily identified... as in the Scottish folk song:

If a body meet a body coming through the rye
If a body kiss a body, need a body cry?

The capital of Canada is Ottawa, Ontario.
The President of the US remarked yesterday that...
[blah blah].

Well, it seems, I see, "The" is necessary when there is no
definition before the countable noun and this noun defines
something unique.

Okay, I think you're on the right track.... :-)

In my case we will have "the" if we paraphrase the
sentence: <The author of the "Teach Youself Foreign
Language, Olly Richards...>

The author of the "Teach Yourself Foreign Language Series"... yes, that is evidently the name of the series although AFAIK it includes only one book so far. I had to check it out to verify that there's no "a" in the title, because foreign languages are countable whereas e.g. knitting & metal work aren't. :-Q


Adding to another of your examples:

The composer of the "Moonlight" sonata, Ludwig van Beethoven, named
this work "Sonata quasi una fantasia per il clavicembalo". The nickname was
added by others who probably found it easier to remember &/or relate to.



Taken alone, the words "author" and "composer" are not unique. Neither are words like "capital" and "president". We make them unique when we add more information... typically including proper nouns like their name, their official status/job title, &/or the name of at least one of their best-known works. :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

Hi, Ardith Hinton! -> Alexander Koryagin
I read your message from 17.02.2022 01:54

The head is part of the body.

It can be understood that "This head is a part of this body" A
criminal investigation.

Archaeologists & criminologists may at times be called upon to
identify various body parts which have been separated for whatever reason(s). In such a situation, however, I'd say "xxx is part of
yyy" as I did there.

In my example I used "head" & "body" in a general sense... and as

Probably I forgot about the general sense.

So, in Russia we say that the palm itches in the salary day. Correct?

Bye, Ardith!
Alexander Koryagin
english_tutor 2022
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* Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)

Hi, All!

I read this:

-------------
At the clinic, it was flu season, so there was a steady stream of children with fevers that morning.
-------------

Why "flu season" without "a" article?

Bye, All!
ENGLISH_TUTOR 2022
Alexander Koryagin

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* Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)

On 2022 Feb 21 08:29:14, you wrote to All:

Why "flu season" without "a" article?

because it covers all flues... not just a specific one (the) or any one (a)...

)\/(ark

"The soul of a small kitten in the body of a mighty dragon. Look on my majesty, ye mighty, and despair! Or bring me catnip. Your choice. Oooh, a shiny thing!"
... Never order chicken-fried steak in a place that doesn't have a jukebox.
---
* Origin: (1:3634/12.73)

Hi, Alexander! Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

In my example I used "head" & "body" in a general
sense...

Probably I forgot about the general sense.

Perhaps because it's not something we use often. :-)

So, in Russia we say that the palm itches in the
salary day. Correct?

I know what you mean because an "itchy palm" has very much the same connotations in English & I think it's entirely appropriate to refer to it in the general sense here because many people have been in situations where e.g. they got paid at the end of the month... the same day the rent was due... and found it challenging to "make ends meet" the last few days before then. :-))

IMHO you made a good start with a parallelism... i.e. an idea which for native speakers who don't understand the grammar appears to be a mystery. But I know I can count on my Russian friends to understand the grammar, and I see you've grown beyond question #4 in the textbook. I've found prepositions quite a challenge in other languages I've studied, so I can assure you you're not alone. In English, when we're referring to a particular day, we say "on" rather than "in". Easter Sunday, e.g., will be on April 17th this year... by our calendar. Question: I notice that the Orthodox Palm Sunday occurs a week later than ours, and the Orthodox Pascha occurs a week later than our Easter. How do Orthodox churches calculate such dates & does "Pascha" +/- = "Easter"? I'm aware of phrases such as "paschal lamb" but can't quite connect the dots.

Anyway, I think I know what you mean by "the salary day" too... and while I'm reluctant to interefere with a nice parallism I must point out that where I come from it's usually called "payday" to minimize class distinctions between salaried employees & those who are paid by the hour. In general we'd say "payday" without using either the definite or indefinite article.... :-Q




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

Hi, Mark! Recently you wrote in a message to Alexander Koryagin:

Why "flu season" without "a" article?

because it covers all flues... not just a specific one
(the) or any one (a)...

Yes, there are usually many different varieties in circulation... and for those who prepare the vaccines it's not easy to be sure in advance which of them will be most troublesome during the next fall/winter/spring flu season.


At times people say they have the flu, but in most such cases I think they're assuming it's whichever variety is currently prevalent where they live. Either way we can use "the" without fretting about whether the article modifies only the word immediately it after it or the entire kit & kaboodle. While some may choose to drop "the" in "flu" or "flu season", I can't think of a situation which would justify using "a" without doing quite a bit of rewording. :-)


Doing even more fine tuning, however: when we say "flu" or "'flu" we are using a colloquial variation of "influenza"... a "flue" is typically a pipe or other enclosure which e.g. directs the flow of smoke in a chimney:

A flea and a fly in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the flea, "Let us fly"...
Said the fly, "Let us flee"...
So they flew through a hole in the flue.

-- traditional nursery rhyme


While I do realize it's not great poetry, it's what I grew up on. But for most people here what matters is that if their dictionary doesn't list the plural of xxx I think it's safe to assume that all they need to do is add an "s".... :-)

Look on my majesty, ye mighty, and despair! Or bring
me catnip.

I reckon you've had some experience with cats. What I'd like to know is why... if, as scientists tell us, they can't see colours... why they seem to be quite selective about which balls from the Xmas tree they'll play with. :-Q




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

On 2022 Feb 28 23:52:12, you wrote to me:

Doing even more fine tuning, however: when we say "flu" or "'flu" we
are using a colloquial variation of "influenza"... a "flue" is
typically a pipe or other enclosure which e.g. directs the flow of
smoke in a chimney:

i think you are targetting this at my use of "flues" to indicate multiple influenza types... i just wasn't sure of the proper pluralization form for "flu" and went with the more common usage of adding "es"...

)\/(ark

"The soul of a small kitten in the body of a mighty dragon. Look on my majesty, ye mighty, and despair! Or bring me catnip. Your choice. Oooh, a shiny thing!"
... Sweet potatoes - Better with possum than barbecue.
---
* Origin: (1:3634/12.73)

Hi, Ardith Hinton!
I read your message from 26.02.2022 21:52

AK>> So, in Russia we say that the palm itches in the salary day.
AK>> Correct?

AH> I know what you mean because an "itchy palm" has very much the same
AH> connotations in English & I think it's entirely appropriate to
AH> refer to it in the general sense here because many people have been
AH> in situations where e.g. they got paid at the end of the month...
AH> the same day the rent was due... and found it challenging to "make
AH> ends meet" the last few days before then. :-))

AH> IMHO you made a good start with a parallelism... i.e. an idea which
AH> for native speakers who don't understand the grammar appears to be
AH> a mystery. But I know I can count on my Russian friends to
AH> understand the grammar, and I see you've grown beyond question #4
AH> in the textbook. I've found prepositions quite a challenge in other
AH> languages I've studied, so I can assure you you're not alone. In
AH> English, when we're referring to a particular day, we say "on"
AH> rather than "in". Easter Sunday, e.g., will be on April 17th this
AH> year... by our calendar.

On/in -- yes we think differently. Although Americans, for instance,
gave up "in" when they speak about streets. They accept that events
happen on the street, like in Russia, not in the street, as the British speakers say. ;)

AH> Question: I notice that the Orthodox Palm
AH> Sunday occurs a week later than ours, and the Orthodox Pascha
AH> occurs a week later than our Easter. How do Orthodox churches
AH> calculate such dates & does "Pascha" +/- = "Easter"? I'm aware of
AH> phrases such as "paschal lamb" but can't quite connect the dots.

Paskha is the Russian word for Easter. Quite often both events happen in
one day. The problem is in ...mathematics and stubbornness. :)
Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Jews have different mathematics formulas
for calculating the passover day.

AH> Anyway, I think I know what you mean by "the salary day" too... and
AH> while I'm reluctant to interefere with a nice parallism I must
AH> point out that where I come from it's usually called "payday" to
AH> minimize class distinctions between salaried employees & those who
AH> are paid by the hour. In general we'd say "payday" without using
AH> either the definite or indefinite article....:-Q

However if speak about a particular payday we probably should use "the".
< The previous payday of Dec. 15 was partial. >

Bye, Ardith!
Alexander Koryagin
fido.english_tutor,local.cc.ak 2022
--- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.7.0
* Origin: Usenet Network (2:5075/128.130)

Hi, alexander -- on Mar 02 2022 at 15:35, you wrote:

On/in -- yes we think differently. Although Americans, for
instance, gave up "in" when they speak about streets. They accept
that events happen on the street, like in Russia, not in the
street, as the British speakers say. ;)

Interesting too, that we sit IN a chair, but ON a stool. :-)


Cheers... Dallas

--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: The BandMaster, Vancouver, CANADA (1:153/7715)

In Louse H. Briesemester's "Island Winds", I came
upon another interesting nominal use of `part':

And barometers are considered a part of the standard
equipment of every home.

I called it interesting because I should have omitted the
indefinite article.

---
* Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)

Dallas Hinton - alexander koryagin:

Interesting too, that we sit IN a chair, but ON a
stool. :-)

Small wonder that we do, for the sitter in a chair is
enclosed on three sides with the backrest and armrests --
parts that raise above the seat.

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* Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)

Hi, Anton Shepelev!
I read your message from 07.03.2022 16:55

??>>> Interesting too, that we sit IN a chair, but ON a
??>> >stool.:-)
AS> Small wonder that we do, for the sitter in a chair is
AS> enclosed on three sides with the backrest and armrests --
AS> parts that raise above the seat.

It is an armchair has it, not a chair.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chair

Bye, Anton!
Alexander Koryagin
fido.english_tutor 2022
--- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.7.0
* Origin: Usenet Network (2:5075/128.130)

Hi, Anton -- on Mar 07 2022 at 15:55, you wrote:

Interesting too, that we sit IN a chair, but ON a
stool. :-)

Small wonder that we do, for the sitter in a chair is
enclosed on three sides with the backrest and armrests --
parts that raise above the seat.

Yes, that was my thinking, too. But what about this:
"The shop is on the street" vs "the shop is on the street" ??? Both seem to be common usages and both are grammatically correct.


Cheers... Dallas

--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: The BandMaster, Vancouver, CANADA (1:153/7715)

Hi, Dallas -- on Mar 07 2022 at 15:28, you wrote:

Yes, that was my thinking, too. But what about this:

"The shop is on the street" vs "the shop is on the street" ???
Both seem to be common usages and both are grammatically correct.

Sorry, that should have read "on the street" vs "in the street"


Cheers... Dallas

--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: The BandMaster, Vancouver, CANADA (1:153/7715)

Hi, Mark! Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

i just wasn't sure of the proper pluralization form for
"flu" and went with the more common usage of adding "es"...

Ah. I wasn't sure I'd ever seen it pluralized before, but I see no reason why it can't be. Common usage varies from time to time & from place to place & YMMV. When I get essentially the same answers from US + UK + Canadian sources I tend to regard the authors' findings as standard English.

With words like "potato" & "octopus" the dictionary tells us how to pluralize them, and sometimes we do it by adding "-es". If we add "-es" where it isn't needed, though, we may confuse other members of the audience.... :-Q




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

Hi, Alexander! Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

On/in -- yes we think differently. Although Americans,
for instance, gave up "in" when they speak about streets.
They accept that events happen on the street, like in
Russia, not in the street, as the British speakers say. ;)

As a Canadian I'm used to hearing both, and until now I hadn't given much thought to who might prefer one over the other. When I consult my memory bank I find a few stock expressions... but as yet it's not clear to me whether there is any significant difference between the two. In some cases at least I reckon the choice may depend on the nature of the event & the number of people who all want to occupy the same space at the same time. I can accept "the man on the street" who easily fits on the sidewalk, whereas I also accept "there's panic in the streets" when e.g. Godzilla is laying waste to Tokyo.... :-Q

Question: I notice that the Orthodox Palm Sunday occurs a
week later than ours, and the Orthodox Pascha occurs a week
later than our Easter. How do Orthodox churches calculate
such dates & does "Pascha" +/- = "Easter"? I'm aware of
phrases such as "paschal lamb" but can't quite connect
the dots.

Paskha is the Russian word for Easter.

Thank you.

Allowing for minor variations in spelling, which often tend to occur when somebody is transliterating from Hebrew &/or Russian into English, that's more or less what I expected... but I didn't want to jump to conclusions. :-)

Quite often both events happen in one day.

Hmm... I reckon that's entirely possible. In some years the two are about a month apart, though, IIRC. :-)

The problem is in ...mathematics and stubbornness. :)

Nicely put! Yes, we all have traditional ways of doing things which make perfect sense to us although they may not to others. I'm very interested in how Russians think because folks like you keep returning to this echo. :-)

Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Jews have different
mathematics formulas for calculating the passover day.

Uh-huh. Having been brought up as a Protestant, I can tell you that Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Equinox. If you say it quickly & it's what you're used to & everyone else you know uses the same calendar it's not that difficult. But if Orthodox Christians use the Julian calendar & Jewish people use a lunar calendar I'm interested in how the systems fit together. It does seem that Easter occurs shortly after Passover.

I'm the sort of person who wants to know why... so when we visited a Russian Orthodox church in Alaska & were given a very nice explanation WRT why they do things the way they do, I understood completely. Some folks responded to what various popes were doing by going back to the old way of doing things, while others suggested ways of making improvements to the current system. :-)

In general we'd say "payday" without using either the
definite or indefinite article....:-Q

However if speak about a particular payday we probably
should use "the". < The previous payday of Dec. 15 was
partial. >

Depending on the context, I think that might work.... :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

Hi, Ardith Hinton! -> Alexander Koryagin
I read your message from 18.03.2022 01:47

Question: I notice that the Orthodox Palm Sunday occurs a week
later than ours, and the Orthodox Pascha occurs a week later than
our Easter. How do Orthodox churches calculate such dates &
does "Pascha" +/- = "Easter"? I'm aware of phrases such
as "paschal lamb" but can't quite connect the dots.

<skipped>

The problem is in... mathematics and stubbornness.

Nicely put! Yes, we all have traditional ways of doing things which
make perfect sense to us although they may not to others. I'm very

Most interesting is the fact that the correctness of the Passover calculations can easily be checked just by looking at the Moon. It should be a full Moon during the Passover. ;) If it is not -- the formula is not correct.

interested in how Russians think because folks like you keep
returning to this echo.

Yes, I remember how on the 7th of March 2007 I put here my first message, and it makes me feel nostalgia here. ;-)

Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Jews have different mathematics
formulas for calculating the passover day.

Uh-huh. Having been brought up as a Protestant, I can tell you that
Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the first full moon after
the Equinox. If you say it quickly & it's what you're used to &
everyone else you know uses the same calendar it's not that
difficult. But if Orthodox Christians use the Julian calendar &
Jewish people use a lunar calendar I'm interested in how the
systems fit together. It does seem that Easter occurs shortly after Passover.

The Jewish people calculate the Passover by its own formula and it is quiet good in its accuracy.

I'm the sort of person who wants to know why... so when we visited
a Russian Orthodox church in Alaska & were given a very nice
explanation WRT why they do things the way they do, I understood completely. Some folks responded to what various popes were doing
by going back to the old way of doing things, while others
suggested ways of making improvements to the current system.

As for me I don't understand why some festivals are celebrated by the civil calendar and some are trying to follow the ancient dead moon calendar. Although, well, I believe that the full Moon really causes a big impact on a human. ;-)

Bye, Ardith!
Alexander Koryagin
english_tutor 2022

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* Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)

Hi, Alexander! Recently you wrote in a message to Anton Shepelev:

Interesting too, that we sit IN a chair, but ON a
stool. :-)

Small wonder that we do, for the sitter in a chair is
enclosed on three sides with the backrest and armrests
-- parts that raise above the seat.

It is an armchair has it, not a chair.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chair

Ah... I think I see the problem. A stool typically has three legs & no back rest or arm rests. A chair typically has four legs & a back rest, but no arm rests... i.e. if it is a kitchen/dining room chair or the sort of cheap folding or stacking chair one must sit on to attend a play or a concert in the school gymnasium. Yes, I said "on" in this context. But there are many other kinds of chairs including (as you suggest) upholstered armchairs, wheelchairs, and office chairs. The design may vary, according to the socioeconomic status of the user &/or on how much $$$ the owner is willing to invest. For the sake of brevity any or all of the above may be referred to simply as "chairs". I'm inclined to use "in" if the chair has both a back rest & full arm rests and if there is a human being occupying it. OTOH Dallas or I might say e.g. "I found the xxx you were looking for & put it on your chair." In such cases, whatever it is doesn't fill the chair & the design of the latter is irrelevant.... :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

Hi, Anton! Recently you wrote in a message to Anton Shepelev:

In Louse H. Briesemester's "Island Winds",

Uh... "louse" is the singular of "lice". If you mean "Louise", that is AFAIK a feminine variant of "Louis" often used in English. Either way I am unable to find any reference to this author from where I sit. I see there's a shop on Prince Edward Island (+/- 4000 miles away) called "Island Winds" and I see there's a school in Texas named after A.J. Briesemeister.

Not to worry. I had to keep checking my own spelling there.... :-)

I came upon another interesting nominal use of `part':

And barometers are considered a part of the standard
equipment of every home.

I called it interesting because I should have omitted the
indefinite article.

Should you? I see that in a reply to Alexander you mentioned a head Which had somehow been disconnected from various other parts of the same body. But thanks to Miss Langwidge I'm reminded of the words of a 19th century poem:


I am a part of all that I have met.
-- Alfred, Lord Tennyson


Nowadays folks tend to use as few words as possible, and I would have omitted the indefinite article there too. OTOH I notice that the extra letters others don't want to waste often reappear in expressions such as "at this point time" or "off of", which both I & US grammarians consider to be redundant. :-Q




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

Ardith Hinton:

But there are many other kinds of chairs [...]

`of chair' (singular), I will dare to remark.

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* Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)

Hi, Anton! Recently I wrote in a message to you:

the extra letters others don't want to waste often
reappear in expressions such as "at this point time"

What I meant to say was "at this point in time", although I wouldn't otherwise say it myself. But while I'm at it I'll give you another example of what I see & hear around these parts. Since the area where I live borders +/- on the Pacific Ocean I am told every so often that a shoe with a human foot in it has been found washed up on a nearby beach. IOW your example of "a severed head" is okay with me when the associated body parts can't be found... [grin].




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)