Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site eosp1.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!we13!ihnp4!houxm!mhuxl!ulysses!princeton!eosp1!mcmillan From: mcmillan@eosp1.UUCP (John McMillan) Newsgroups: net.religion,net.nlang Subject: Re: Do "a" and "the" mean anything? Message-ID: <557@eosp1.UUCP> Date: Mon, 30-Jan-84 18:06:12 EST Article-I.D.: eosp1.557 Posted: Mon Jan 30 18:06:12 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 5-Feb-84 12:18:41 EST References: <923@proper.UUCP> Organization: Exxon Office Systems, Princeton, NJ Lines: 11 You can't generalize for all languages. In Latin for example, where all nouns and verbs are inflected, it is generally possible to associate all words properly regardless of many different word orders that are permissible in a sentence. "A" and "the" don't add much to the wealth of information conveyed by noun endings. In English there is little inflection, and you can often chnage the meaning of a sentence by changing "a" to "the". - Toby Robison allegra!eosp1!robison decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison princeton!eosp1!robison