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on 1/31/04 2:33 PM, HandyDad at lsulky@hidden.email wrote: > --SNIP-- > >>> I was wondering what the exact meaning of >>> "to" was: does it just refer to something previously mentioned, > or does it >>> have some of the other meanings of the English "the", like "the > only one" or >>> "a generic instance of"? > --SNIP-- > > The one usage of 'the' that really stands out to me as quite > different from others is when it's used as a class marker > (terminology?): > > 'The lion is a mighty beast.' > > Do we mean the lion we were talking about, or the only lion at our > local zoo, which we all know about -- which would both require 'the' - > - or all lions in general? I think using 'the' with this meaning is > logically shaky. If I wanted to express the third alternative to a > non-native-English speaker, I would probably express it as 'Lions are > mighty beasts.' Yes. We need a t-word for 'The typical'. Maybe 'ta' if we haven't assigned it yet. > > --SNIP-- > >>> -Let's meet at the entrance. >>> -Where is the bathroom? >> >> This seems kind of catch-all. Don't most of these sort of > mean 'the one we >> all know about, logically, without its necessarily being mentioned > before'? > > I agree, but these last two are a touch idiomatic: 'Let's meet at the > entrance that we assume exists and is unique'; 'Where is the bathroom > that I assume exists but is not necessarily unique?'. We probably > wouldn't say 'Let's meet at an entrance' (unless we were just > starting to think about where to meet, expecting to firm up our plans > shortly), but we might well say 'Where is a bathroom?'. > Sure. And probably Ceqli can work the same way. >>> >>> TD. the one identified by/as (the modifier of the noun) >>> -the man who answered (as opposed to the one who ignored his > phone) >> >> This usage does seem different, somehow. Question is, would 'to' > suffice >> for these, without ambiguity. >> >> To jino hu pa fanbol. To pa fanbol se jino. as opposed to >> Te jino hu pa fanbol. > >> As in English, there's a difference between 'the man who answered' > and 'a >> man who answered' >> > I think "to" works okay here, as a shortcut way of expressing 'A man > answered and the man said....' It's a specific designation, just one > that's kind of built-in to the phrase. > Good. -- Rex F. May (Baloo) Daily cartoon at: http://www.cnsnews.com/cartoon/baloo.asp Buy my book at: http://www.kiva.net/~jonabook/book-GesundheitDummy.htm