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Old 12-06-2005, 10:10 PM   #10
tw
Read? I only know how to write.
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 11,933
Quote:
Originally Posted by grant
Anytime you swap the indefinite article for the definite article you are changing the meaning of a constituent.
... sometimes. In this case, the elimination of "THE" caused no change in what was intended. It may have caused a change in the many ways another could have interpreted what was written. But the missing "THE" caused no change in what the author intended to say. The one interpretation intended by the author remains intact without "THE". (And now my spelling checker is complaining about dangling prepositions. No one is happy with this language - or why lawyers make so much money.)
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