Subj : No article
To   : Mortar M.
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Tue Sep 02 2025 23:52:48

Hi, Mortar!  Recently you wrote in a message to Alexander Koryagin:

 > But before they sat down to table, the doctor said

 MM>  You don't start a sentence with words like "but" and "and".


          That wasn't allowed when I went to school... but language is a moving target & informality is widely accepted these days.



 MM>  It would be more appropriate to say, "But before they sat down
 MM>  to eat," or just, "But before they sat down,", implying that they
 MM>  were sitting down to dinner.


          IOW "sit down to dinner" is preferable to "sit down to table".

          You live in Texas?  Okay, so where you're coming from it might be.  I grew up in an ex-Brit neighbourhood fairly close to the 49th parallel....  :-))




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

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