questions about English grammar

[devrimci_kürt]

I wonder

(star and planet names )

The Sun

The Moon

but Mercury(not the Mercury)

Venus (not the Venus)

 

 

but why?I didn`t understand

[ydoaPs]

I wonder

(star and planet names )

The Sun

The Moon

but Mercury(not the Mercury)

Venus (not the Venus)

 

 

but why? I didn`t understand

 

It is denoting a specific sun and a specific moon as opposed to A sun or A moon.

[DrP]

There is only one sun and one moon (that belong to us any way). There are lots of planets. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. Venus is the next planet closest to the sun. Mercury is a planet (see??? not THE planet but a planet)

 

It's called the definate article (the). Hopefully this will help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_(grammar)

 

 

That link gives the example of cats and mats. If you are talking about a specific cat on a specific mat then it is:

 

the cat sat on the mat

 

if it was any old cat on any old mat then it is:

 

acat sat on a mat.

 

Hope that helps.

[Sisyphus]

To make it more confusing, "Earth" and "the Earth" are both correct and usually interchangable, although the meaning is slightly different. "Earth" is how you refer to it as just another planet. "The Earth" implies a special place, as differentiated from the other planets.

 

Similarly, with "the Sun" and "the Moon," some people also use proper names for them, like "Sol" and "Luna," in which case the definite article would not be used. This is much less common, though, since we don't generally talk to people who have other suns and moons, and there's no confusion among Earthlings what you're talking about.

 

Of course, like many conventions in the English language, the real reason is that "it just is," and you just have to learn them individually. For that, I apologize on behalf of all native Anglophones.

[devrimci_kürt]

thanks

 

English is a rather crazy language

[mrburns2012]

From what I can tell, I think it's because "Venus" and "Mercury" originate from proper nouns whereas no mythical figures that I know of are named "Moon" or "Sun."

 

Similarly, assuming there's only one rock and one guy named Happy Gilmore just as there is only one Venus (planet) and one moon:

 

Correct:

"Look at a rock."

("Look at the Sun.")

 

Incorrect:

"Look at rock."

("Look at Sun.")

 

Correct:

"I saw Happy Gilmore."

("I saw Venus.")

 

Incorrect:

"I saw a Happy Gilmore?"

("I saw the Venus.")

Edited February 12, 2009 by mrburns2012

[CaptainPanic]

Is it because "sun" and "moon" are nouns (just like "cat", "rock" etc.) and Venus and Mercury are names (like "John", "Harrie" etc.)?

 

I put a question mark behind the previous sentence because English is my second language... and because I'm an engineer, not a linguistics expert. However, I cannot find a single example in which the reasoning is not true... in English, or Dutch.

[padren]

The simplest answer is that "Sun" and "Moon" are not names like "Venus" and "Mercury" are, they are things. There are suns, moons, and asteroid belts among other things in the universe, from Earth there is only one of each anyone refers to to there is the sun, the moon, the asteroid belt.

[Ladeira]

The "the" thing is similar to portuguese so I am used to these things. I really like English although I misunderstand things sometimes.

[Mr Skeptic]

Ha, if you want Spanish the word "the" is replaced by "la" and "el", the former for feminine things (like the sea) and the latter for masculine things (like the ocean), and you need to also learn what is masculine and what feminine. For German likewise, but they have masculine, feminine, and neuter. Really though, in English the word "the" means you are talking about a specific instance of the word described by the noun. If you use a proper noun, then it already is specific so the "the" would be redundant.

[Ladeira]

OK, in Portuguese, "the" is replaced by "o", "a", "os" or "as", "o" is for singular and masculine nouns, "a" for singular and feminine nouns, "os" for plural and masculine nouns and "as" for plural and feminine nouns. Even though it's a big difference, I don't think it makes learning English harder as you just put "the" when you want to mean any of the four Portuguese definite articles.

 

However, that doubt of when putting "the" I had once before, but it was easily solved when I realized that proper names have the idea of "the ..." for itself. Portuguese grammar has many unnecessary things, so we're always repeating ideas, like "as casas verdes" (the green houses). All the highlighted "s" has the same intention: the plural of house. And we put the plural on the article and on the adjective so it follows the noun, it doesn't happen in English.