"positive identification"

[Haihao]

Hi,

Could you help me with the sentences below:?

[Alan]

Hi Haihao,

I may be being dim but I don't quite follow your question about the articles. On the 'over a cup of tea' question I would say that they each had a cup of tea.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Haihao]

Hi Alan,

Thank you very much. As for the first one, I am sorry for the ambiguous question. I'd like to know if a/the were put before "positive identification", could the sentence still have a similar meaning?

Haihao

[Bahaa87]

Noone is interesting in answering this guestion !

[Alan]

Hi Haihao,

Using ' have positive identification' would be the same as ' have definite proof'. In both those examples what you are saying is 'identify positively' and 'prove definitely'. In other words you are not really specifying the 'identification' or the 'proof', you are really 'making a verb' out of the whole construction and in that case no article ('a' or 'the') would be needed.

Hope that makes sense

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms

[Haihao]

Hi Alan,

Sorry for the dull question. Now I understand it very well, I suppose, with "you are really 'making a verb' out of the whole construction and in that case no article ('a' or 'the') would be needed."

Thank you!

Haihao