Question for the english language Guru's

x5GuyInLA · #1 10-27-2009, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quicksilver

Actually if someone gave me directions and said take 405 or 5 or 101 or
110, 90, 105, 710, 605, 210, 134, 170, 91, 60, 118, 14, 2 I would no problem
understanding and there would be no need to add the additional "THE".
Doing so is just unnecessary verbiage.

Now if there was more than one 405, 5, 10, 101 ect then there might be a need to distinguish one from another but as it is that's not the case.
Therefore imo there's just no need to add the word "the" in this case.

I guess we Socal folks don't like to follow rules, hence why there are so many bad drivers here, but I digress

Just looked up the "controversy" and here are a couple of websites that discuss the "the" controversy. Interesting discussion.

The THE Controversy - Davis Wiki

languagehat.com: "THE" + FREEWAY.

A couple of posts say that in England, "the" is used in front of freeway names. And if England is where English originated from, wouldn't the use of "the" be grammatically correct? Also, for those in NY, do you say "take the A train" or "take A train"? Isn't "A" the name of the line?

JCL · #2 10-27-2009, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by x5GuyInLA

A couple of posts say that in England, "the" is used in front of freeway names. And if England is where English originated from, wouldn't the use of "the" be grammatically correct?

Well, I drove down the M40 last Friday on my way to the M25 and the M4 on my way to LHR (because England has motorways, not freeways).

The problem with your theory is that this is the same country that produced Scouse, Cockney, and my favourite, Brummie. Proper grammer was never part of the deal.

x5GuyInLA · #3 10-28-2009, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCL

Well, I drove down the M40 last Friday on my way to the M25 and the M4 on my way to LHR (because England has motorways, not freeways).

well you obviously knew what i meant, but i apologize for not knowing the proper terms.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCL

The problem with your theory is that this is the same country that produced Scouse, Cockney, and my favourite, Brummie. Proper grammer was never part of the deal.

The same can be said for American English with all our dialects, so what is proper grammar? Until we have a definitive answer, I don't see what's wrong with the theory that if they were the originators, then maybe they know how proper English should be spoken. The different dialects shouldn't take away from that.