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Omitting of articles



 
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ESL Forum | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
indirect speech with Where | Plural forms: Potatoes are vegetables and cherries are fruits
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Omitting of articles #1 (permalink) Mon May 21, 2007 13:18 pm   Omitting of articles		  
I address this question to all the native English speakers on this forum.

I know that sometimes they (newspaper editors) omit the articles (a, an, the) in their articles (i.e. compositions) How do you feel when you run into a sentence from which all the articles were removed? Does it freak you out? Does it make you feel uncomfortable because something is missing?
Lost_Soul
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Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Posts: 1861
Location: South Park, Colorado, USA
articles #2 (permalink) Mon May 21, 2007 14:23 pm   articles		  
Hi,

Let me offer you some material on the articles I've written for this site:

Grammar Lesson: Articles in English
http://www.english-test.net/lessons/16/index.html

Alan
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You can read my ESL story 'the' vs. 'a/an'
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Alan Townend

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Omitting of articles #3 (permalink) Mon May 21, 2007 17:16 pm   Omitting of articles		  
lost_soul wrote:
I address this question to all the native English speakers on this forum.

I know that sometimes they (newspaper editors) omit the articles (a, an, the) in their articles (i.e. compositions) How do you feel when you run into a sentence from which all the articles were removed? Does it freak you out? Does it make you feel uncomfortable because something is missing?

Here is an answer to your actual question, L_S:

I have never seen a newspaper story in which all of the articles (a, an, the) had been omitted. Were I to run into such a text, I might very well simply stop reading (or stop trying to read) it after the first few sentences.

What you may be thinking of is "headline style English". Headlines often omit words, but it isn't just articles that are omitted. Auxiliary verbs, for example, are also frequently omitted. In November 1963, there were probably plenty of newspapers with headlines such as "Kennedy Shot Dead" or "Kennedy Assassinated in Dallas". The text of the stories would have then begun something like this "President John F. Kennedy has been assassinated by a lone gunman in Dallas, Texas." Native speakers are used to reading headlines and it is generally clear what basic words have been omitted. But the text of the story is not written the same way.

There are other styles of writing such as texting (SMS) that tend to omit and/or shorten words. One reason for this is basically the same as for headlines: omitting words saves space. I have to tell you, though, that when I see a text message written by a teenager, I often have a heap of trouble trying to decipher it. Cool
Yankee
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Joined: 16 Apr 2006
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Omitting of articles #4 (permalink) Mon May 21, 2007 17:47 pm   Omitting of articles		  
Hi lost_soul,

You wrote:
Quote:
I address this question to all the native English speakers on this forum.


Wouldn't it be more appropriate to ask expert speakers on this forum for help?

EU
Englishuser
I'm here quite often ;-)


Joined: 06 Jun 2006
Posts: 806
Omitting of articles #5 (permalink) Mon May 21, 2007 19:11 pm   Omitting of articles		  
Hi to all !
Many thanks for your replies ! I appreciate your desire to help me Smile

Special thanks to Yankee - your post really cleared up my misconception about newspapers Smile
Lost_Soul
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Posts: 1861
Location: South Park, Colorado, USA
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indirect speech with Where | Plural forms: Potatoes are vegetables and cherries are fruits
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