Doubts

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dumbone
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Doubts

Post by dumbone »

Hello everyone. :D

This doubt has been bothering me for quite sometime now.
Which of these sentences is correct?

1. He is a humble,polite and cheerful child.
2. He is a humble,polite and a cheerful child.


1. Her answers are well planned and hence well written.
2. Her answers are well-planned and hence well-written.

I hope someone can help me with this. :?
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GiddyGad
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Re: Doubts

Post by GiddyGad »

dumbone wrote:This doubt has been bothering me for quite sometime now.
Which of these sentences is correct?

1. He is a humble,polite, and cheerful child.
2. He is a humble,polite and a cheerful child...
1. Only the first variant is correct. The indefinite article should be used with a noun; 'humble' and 'polite' are adjectives and don't need an article, i.e. you can't say 'He is a humble and a polite.' The use of two articles in the second variant splits the group into two the first of which doesn't have a noun to be attributed by the article.
1. Her answers are well planned and hence well written.
2. Her answers are well-planned and hence well-written.
Only the second variant is correct: you may say 'Her answers are planned well and hence are written well'. Otherwise, '...well-planned... well-written'.
Coolfish
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Post by Coolfish »

Hi, GiddyGad.

Are 'well-planned' and 'well-written' adjectives here?
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GiddyGad
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Post by GiddyGad »

I'd say so, Coolfish, though they are based on 'well' - which is an adverb, and 'planned'/'written' - which are Past Participle forms.
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dumbone
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Doubt

Post by dumbone »

Thank You for the replies.

If an indefinite article has to be used with a noun, then when we say "He is a humble,cheerful and an obedient child", isn't 'an' used with the adjective 'obedient'?


I have heard about this rule regarding the use of hyphens, that the hyphen is used for past participles and adjectives when it is followed by a noun. For eg:
He writes well-planned answers.
He is a well-behaved child.

But,

He is well behaved.{ no noun , hence no hyphen }
His answers are well planned.

What do you think?
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GiddyGad
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Re: Doubt

Post by GiddyGad »

dumbone wrote:If an indefinite article has to be used with a noun, then when we say "He is a humble,cheerful and an obedient child", isn't 'an' used with the adjective 'obedient'?
The rule is definite about it: one noun - one article. An article is an attribute to a noun and it starts not only a separate noun but an 'attribute(s)+noun' group, e.g. ' a big black felt slipper'.
NB: Strictly speaking, a noun group starts with a preposition which determines the case of a noun... but this is another question.
The meaning of an article is to control the focus of attention of a hearer. It shows whether the hearer should remember or know the object being spoken of (the definite article) or needn't bother looking for it - any will do (the indefinite article). Anyway, it is always attributed to a noun.
dumbone wrote: He is well behaved.{ no noun , hence no hyphen }
His answers are well planned.
You mean, just like: 'I'm very busy', 'She is so nice' - no hyphen is required? What's the problem? Oh,...I see,... these sticky hyphens again... I'd still say 'well-planned', 'well-behaved': the degree of a liaison differs. Besides, you can't say:'He is busy very', 'She is nice so'. Again, 'behaved', 'planned' are not adjectives - they are Past Participle forms.
But it has nothing to do with presence or absence of a noun, has it?
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