dgmodel Posted November 11 Report Share Posted November 11 i have no idea even how to word this question, however what is the rule for using "THE..." how come its THE devil and not THE GOD??? or as in THE united states of america, or the car, or the house, or the person over there... why cant you say "the mtv" (like my father), or the california??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phatman Posted November 11 Report Share Posted November 11 ...i bet tastyt can help on this...i could only wager a guess and say it has to do with an established unique identity/presence...i.e. you can say the gods but not THE god...or the americas but not THE america...but now that seems to isolate pluralization...but you see what i'm getting at...general vs specific...perhaps...idk...lol...your dad says the mtv, my mom says "the dopes"...she once said "there is something wrong with him nick, i think he is doing the dopes"...lmao... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgym Posted November 11 Report Share Posted November 11 Where's my Strunk and White copy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upjumpdaboogie Posted November 11 Report Share Posted November 11 Originally posted by dgmodel i have no idea even how to word this question, however what is the rule for using "THE..." how come its THE devil and not THE GOD??? or as in THE united states of america, or the car, or the house, or the person over there... why cant you say "the mtv" (like my father), or the california??? the latter examples are easy... cause they all seem to be pronouns, or proper names... but that doesn't hold true for "the" devil....the is an article, relating to a noun or entity. As I see it, it had much to do in the way you typed it... i.e. GOD, or God.. in capitals... but even the "the" devil is the representative name for that being it's less contrued as a "name"..... .. is what i'm trying to get at and not do an excellent job.But, for example... "the god" can be used, when referring to a greek god, quite easily... for the sheer and simple fact that.. it's a more loose generic usage...if that helps any.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgmodel Posted November 11 Author Report Share Posted November 11 Originally posted by phatman ...i bet tastyt can help on this...i could only wager a guess and say it has to do with an established unique identity/presence...i.e. you can say the gods but not THE god...or the americas but not THE america...but now that seems to isolate pluralization...but you see what i'm getting at...general vs specific...perhaps...idk...lol...your dad says the mtv, my mom says "the dopes"...she once said "there is something wrong with him nick, i think he is doing the dopes"...lmao... :laugh: :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgmodel Posted November 11 Author Report Share Posted November 11 Originally posted by upjumpdaboogie the latter examples are easy... cause they all seem to be pronouns, or proper names... but that doesn't hold true for "the" devil....the is an article, relating to a noun or entity. As I see it, it had much to do in the way you typed it... i.e. GOD, or God.. in capitals... but even the "the" devil is the representative name for that being it's less contrued as a "name"..... .. is what i'm trying to get at and not do an excellent job.But, for example... "the god" can be used, when referring to a greek god, quite easily... for the sheer and simple fact that.. it's a more loose generic usage...if that helps any.. im still lost... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgym Posted November 11 Report Share Posted November 11 Originally posted by dgmodel im still lost... Buy this: or ask her: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgmodel Posted November 12 Author Report Share Posted November 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgym Posted November 12 Report Share Posted November 12 Originally posted by dgmodel table tennis anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fineones Posted November 12 Report Share Posted November 12 Originally posted by upjumpdaboogie the latter examples are easy... cause they all seem to be pronouns, or proper names... but that doesn't hold true for "the" devil....the is an article, relating to a noun or entity. As I see it, it had much to do in the way you typed it... i.e. GOD, or God.. in capitals... but even the "the" devil is the representative name for that being it's less contrued as a "name"..... .. is what i'm trying to get at and not do an excellent job.But, for example... "the god" can be used, when referring to a greek god, quite easily... for the sheer and simple fact that.. it's a more loose generic usage...if that helps any.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mssabina Posted November 12 Report Share Posted November 12 Originally posted by gmccookny Buy this: i have that, very useful for writing papers... get the 4th edition Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tastyt Posted November 12 Report Share Posted November 12 LMFAO... no, I don't have an answer to this one. Boogie's explanation seems sound... As for God vs the devil... you wouldn't include an article in front of Satan, Lucifer, etc, b/c, like Boogie said, those are more like proper names. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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