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ESL forum >
Ask for help > I NEED HELP WITH ARTICLES
I NEED HELP WITH ARTICLES
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savina noronha
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I NEED HELP WITH ARTICLES
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SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP
please explain the use of articles with realtion to illnesses
why is it
THE FLU? but A COLD? and CANCER- no article
PLEASE HELP
SAV |
1 Oct 2008
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Zora
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The flu would mean he�s sick with that specific illness, "a flu" (while not that common) would refer to any of the hundreds of viruses.
A cold refers to the illness and "the cold" refers to "coldness" the sensation.
Cancer is used when you aren�t really specifying.
She�s got cancer. (not specific)
but you could say:
The cancer is spreading quick rapidly through her body. (specific)
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1 Oct 2008
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savina noronha
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But i would say
i have THE flu
i have A cold
i have cancer
why? |
1 Oct 2008
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Zora
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Somethings are that way... I�m going to take a wild guess that because "Flu" comes from "Influenza" which is a specific disease, you need to put the article "the" in front like you would with "The Moon" or "The Pacific Ocean".
And a cold, is problably because the cold virus is not specific. It mutates with great ease and each strain is different.
Cancer - is probably uncuontable in it�s form or meaning. When you refer to cancer we are refering to a disease that is made of of a million little cells that have gone haywire (crazy) ...the cancer would mean you are refering to the illness like in the example above... it would be similar to the form "Rice" or "The rice" .. rice is not specific, the rice is.. here you would be refering to a packet or a dish or a recipe...
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1 Oct 2008
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Logos
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Actually I do not think that there is any adequate explanation of the rules regarding articles. We learn that the definite article is used with rivers oceans and seas, but not with lakes. Mountains do not take articles (except the Eiger) and mountain ranges do. Countries do not take articles, but groups of countries do (the USA - the West Indies) though why we say the Philippines (I know it has a lot of islands but so do many other countries!!!)
So for every rule there are many exceptions. As I have been pondering your question, specific to illnesses and symptoms I find it very difficult to come up with any sort of pattern. When you consider all the illnesses such as measles, chicken pox, flu, cancer, heart attack, lumbago, arthritis and many others, some of them have �a� some �the� and some with none.
So, as a �so called� native speaker I am a bit stumped to answer your question in linguistic terms stating any rule. It all comes down to feeling the language, and what is right. I know that doesn�t help second language learners very much but sometimes that is the way it is.
Why is learning English so difficult? Well one simple reason is that if it were easy then I would be out of a job!!!
Hope this helps, but I�m sure it doesn�t. |
1 Oct 2008
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