Guest Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
Wind, water
In my textbook, there is an article about energy. It says"energy from the wind", "energy from water". As I understand, both wind and water are uncountable nouns. Why are they treated differently in terms of the article "the"? "the" precceds "wind", but not "water"
Top answer
It would not have been wrong, in my opinion, to have said "energy from wind". The "the" seems to be optional there. " I don't know if there is a definitive answer to that question.
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It would not have been wrong, in my opinion, to have said "energy from wind". The "the" seems to be optional there.
So the question becomes, "Why can "wind" optionally take "the" and "water" not take it at all?"
I don't know if there is a definitive answer to that question. It may be a purely arbitrary choice that native speakers make without ever asking the reason.
So the question becomes, "Why can "wind" optionally take "the" and "water" not take it at all?"
I don't know if there is a definitive answer to that question. It may be a purely arbitrary choice that native speakers make without ever asking the reason.
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