Articles/use them

Articles/use them
Message from lilly4928 posted on 10-03-2013 at 05:57:49 (D | E | F)
Hello,

Could you help me please?

- Supreme Court President Johnson decided to appoint a new judge today.
why I can't use THE before Supreme Court?
- curiosity killed the cat.'- English proverb
Can I use THE before curiosity?
- last week, my wife and I had an argument about our bank account.
If I say "the last week,..." is it correct?
Thanks for your answers.

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Edited by lucile83 on 10-03-2013 08:04

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Re: Articles/use them from lucile83, posted on 10-03-2013 at 08:13:44 (D | E)
Hello,

Here is a lesson for you
Link

- Supreme Court President Johnson decided to appoint a new judge today.
why I can't use THE before Supreme Court? ....you speak of President Johnson
- curiosity killed the cat.'- English proverb
Can I use THE before curiosity?...no, it is a general statement and moreover it is a proverb that you can't modify
- last week, my wife and I had an argument about our bank account
If I say "the last week,..." is it correct?...no, not here; it happened last week
Hope that helps.

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Re: Articles/use them from sherry48, posted on 10-03-2013 at 17:53:22 (D | E)
Hello.
Here are 2 sentences, one that may be written with an article and one written without.
The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. Which court is the highest in the country? The Supreme Court is.
The case was heard in Supreme Court. Where was the case heard? It was heard at Supreme Court.
Supreme Court President Johnson decided to appoint a new judge today. Who decided to appoint a new judge? Supreme Court President Johnson did.
In the US, the head of the Supreme Court is referred to as Chief Justice, so the sentence might be written this way...
The president of the Supreme Court, Chief Jusctice XX,...
I don't know if this is helpful...Sherry

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Re: Articles/use them from lucile83, posted on 10-03-2013 at 18:04:19 (D | E)
Hello

I'll just give a hint about the use of 'the'.
We omit 'the' when the function is included.

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. Which court is the highest in the country? The Supreme Court is...here we speak of the institution itself

The case was heard in Supreme Court. Where was the case heard? It was heard at Supreme Court....we speak of the function of the institution

Supreme Court President Johnson decided ... we speak of the function of President Johnson in this institution
Hope it is clear

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Re: Articles/use them from sherry48, posted on 10-03-2013 at 18:35:01 (D | E)
Hello Lucile.
Thanks for clarifying what I wrote, as I thought it needed something more to make it clear, and the idea of function was just what was lacking!
Sherry

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Re: Articles/use them from lucile83, posted on 10-03-2013 at 18:37:08 (D | E)
You are welcome sherry

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Re: Articles/use them from gerondif, posted on 11-03-2013 at 22:46:17 (D | E)
Hello,
You could go at it another way.

The inspector is waiting = * Inspector Columbo is waiting for you

The President decided............ok.

* President Johnson decided...... ok, the is replaced by Johnson, and there is only one "President Johnson", so "the" is neither needed nor correct. "The" is the short form of "this", which means you are showing the person. With "President Johnson", you name him, so you needn't show him to identify him.

Supreme court President Johnson has decided.... Supreme court is adjectival in a way, as if you had said: Imperial President Johnson, Super President Johnson, allmighty President Johnson...., the is not needed because of "Johnson", supreme court has nothing to do with it..

It would be different if you said:
The supreme court ('s) judgment impressed people. You are showing, presenting that judgment to your listeners'opinion.

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Re: Articles/use them from traviskidd, posted on 12-03-2013 at 07:20:29 (D | E)
Hello.

I have to disagree with the expressions "in/at Supreme Court". Unlike "in court", if you say which court you have to use "the".

The case was heard in/at the Supreme Court.

"Supreme Court President" would refer to the President of the Supreme Court, which doesn't really exist, at least not in the U.S. The head of the Supreme Court is one of the judges. Judges on the Supreme Court are called "justices", and as Sherry said the head is called the Chief Justice. However, the Chief Justice does not appoint the other justices; it is the President (of the United States) who appoints justices, subject to Senate approval.

To answer your particular questions:
1) When you use a title with a name, you don't put an article. For example, we say "President Obama" and not "The President Obama".
2) You are talking about curiosity in general, so you don't put an article.
3) There is no article before time expressions involving "last" and "next".

See you.

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