Re: Foreigner(s)

<jens@xxxxxxxxx> skrev i meddelelsen
news:64a02407-c452-4497-a178-2e4121399b92@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On 4 Mar., 23:58, "Arne H. Wilstrup" <ahw> wrote:

*how can you tell? Are you a native speaker?

No, I am not a native speaker. But you knew this already. You somehow
seem to be implying that only native speakers can recognize faulty
usage when they see it.

*And you seem to imply that I am a beginner of English, which you know I
am not. It seems that you are looking through a magnifying glass in
order to "catch" any mistake I might make - I could do the same to your
postings, but I shall not waste my time to do it. It is meaningless when
the issue is another matter.

There are some words who

which

*really?

are without the definite article in English, e.g. breakfast -
breakfast
is ready, Heaven, Hell, fate, paradise, spring, summer etc.

Nice list. Remember that there are exceptions, such as "I will be in
Paris for the rest of the summer".

? Where is the execption? Proper names are normally without the definite
article, like Lucy, London, Paris etc.
You can, however, use a definite article before a surname in plural to
denote the whole family: Jessica has never liked the Carters. The
Andersons are having a party. (plural).

There are definite articles in front of some countries, if the name
contains a countable noun:
The United Kingdom, the Commonwealth of Independent States (the CIS),
the People's Republic of China etc.

There are also definite articles in front of the names of rivers: The
Thames, The Danube etc.
When the river is a part of a place name, the definite article is
omitted: Strafford-on-Avon.

And there are lots of other rules about this, but you must be confined
with these in this lesson.


But there
is nothing about "knowledge" as far as I know - so why it should be
closer to "normal" English I cannot see.

Most English nouns can appear both with and without the definite
article, depending on the context. "Knowledge" is one of them.

*No, that is not true, if we are talking about nouns with definite or
indefinite articles.
Where does this notion derives from? It is not a notion you can find in
grammar books, I'm afraid.

There is a good agreement with the Danish and the English way of using a
definite form, but there are some exceptions where English uses definite
article when Danish uses indefinite form.

E.g.: Jackie was the author of the book = Jakie var forfatter til bogen
The London of the nineties.

Here it is with "of" sentences.

You may use the definite article when you use some adjectives - e.g. The
following story is true. Meet me at the same place as yesterday.

But "it happened last week."

etc.

There are, however, some words which do not have any articles in
English when we use a definite form in Danish.
E.g. uncountable nouns do not have an article when they are used
generally:
Life is wonderful! - Art is often about love and death - Nature has had
enough.

A noun can have some determiners e.g. adjectives or prepositions, but
without definite articles, e.g.

I find German grammar difficult.

Some collectives do not have any articles, e.g. Mankind can't go on
leaving thier waste to posterity.
It's the interests of womankind to change society.
Woman is physically weaker than man.


Your
original phrase was "it has nothing to do with ... the knowledge of
all the states in the USA". The problem with "the knowledge" is that
it tends to imply that there is a specific limited amount of knowledge
to be had about those states. "The knowledge" could be defended in
"the knowledge of the names of all the states", but even then I would
prefer "knowledge" or even "knowing". Come to think of it, "knowing"
would also be better in your original sentence.

* I don't agree. The context was a discussion about knowing a capital in
the country you are actually visiting. Being a tourist in Copenhagen and
belive that you are in Sweden, is ridiculous.
Then a posting came, saying that I don't know all the capitals in the
USA.
I answered that it had nothing to do with the knowledge of all the
states in the USA..."

So this was the context and therfore my use of "knowledge" was correct.


Note the difference in meaning in "I want you to listen to music" as
opposed to "I want you to listen to the music".

* two different things which you cannot compare to my above mentioned
context.

*you may use 'some' in both interrogative and negative sentences and
'any' may be used in indicative sentences:

Has something gone wrong? (the expectation is an affirmative) - has
anything gone wrong? (the question is neutral)

Yes. But in the context you presented originally, you need "anything".

*That's your opinion. If you can substantiate it with a relevant
grammar, I will have to yield, but I don't think you have got it right
here.



"Feel free". Your list consists of just two items. Separating two
items in a list with a comma instead of "and" is headlinese.

*And this is not allowed in English?

Headlinese is certainly allowed. My point was that you would be better
off not to use headlinese in the middle of your post.

*that's your opinion. I meant the sentence to be like that.

*no, you can use both "set foot on (in)" according to Vinterberg and
Bodelsen, Danish- English Dictionary.

You have to be aware of the context. You set foot on an island but in
a state.

* I agree in the above mentioned example, but I don't agree that I
could not use "on" in the context. You must be more specific.



.

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