A question about the usage of article
Here's an example:
The roles of parent and child have been reversed.
My question is why there are no articles before 'parent' and 'child' respectively? I thought the right way can be either that the roles of a parent and a child have been reversed or that the roles of parents and children have been reversed.
By the way, if you can specify the usage of articles, I cannot appreciate it too much.
Search from various English teachers...
Answers · 6
1
This is a bit tricky. In this situation I think we're referring to roles of 'parent' and 'child' and this means in general, not in a specific case which would make them countable and singular. Because we're using a general noun then 'parent' and 'child' are uncountable and they are not definite, because it is a general idea. So no articles.
This PDF is helpful, but sorry it's not easy.
https://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/docs/learningguide-articlesinenglishgrammar.pdf
What should help is to do lots of reading, and notice the articles, gather lots of examples. Try to make rules yourself and then test your rules with more reading. Or asking on italki. But it is hard because it requires something of a mind-shift.
0
Hello Nicole,
Here because we are speaking in general you don't need to use an article.
For example, I can say 'I love elephants', meaning elephants in general (not a specific elephant) and therefore no article is necessary.
I hope that helps,
Christine
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