Bush's Shrinking Safety Zone

[tw]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

tw, off topic, but ......do you have some aversion to the word "the" ??? it seems that you rarely use it.

When Tiger Woods began changing his swing, I got inspired to fix my form as well. I clearly must learn to write with fewer words. Since "THE" was the first word I learned in 1st grade, then it seemed like a good place to start.

"The Cat in the Hat sat on the Mat". Let's see. "A Cat in the Hat sat on the Mat". Well it does change the meaning. "The Cat in a Hat sat on the Mat". Not good enough. "The Cat in a Hat sat on a Mat". Even better. It still says what was originally intended - with four less letters.

I am so amused and totally curious. Been experimenting with the elimination of extraneous "THE"s. Never thought anyone would notice. Leave it up to a 'Straight guy with a queer eye' to see it. BTW, not the 'Straight guy ....' . A 'Straight guy....'

Lumberjim, did you also notice Tiger's new swing? I am completely fascinated (and feeling a little exposed) that you noticed my change.

[Perry Winkle]

Originally Posted by tw

"The Cat in the Hat sat on the Mat". Let's see. "A Cat in the Hat sat on the Mat". Well it does change the meaning. "The Cat in a Hat sat on the Mat". Not good enough. "The Cat in a Hat sat on a Mat". Even better. It still says what was originally intended - with four less letters.

Anytime you swap the indefinite article for the definite article you are changing the meaning of a constituent.

[tw]

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.)