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Well, one thing came in my mind when I've posted a comment on SO.

Comment is: Do you understand English?

Can we write the English or an English ?

I'm generally use Grammar Checker when i confuse, but when i pasted this three different sentences, it shows: No grammar or spelling mistakes found

So, which one is right, and grammatically correct?

Cardinal
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Div
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1 Answers1

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'English' (as in language) is not a quantifiable noun.

You can't use an or the, which are articles used to refer to quantifiables with a non-quantifiable noun. Saying 'the English' or 'an English' (referring to the language itself in a general way, and not referring to a particular English) is just as wrong as saying 'the tea' or 'a sugar'. For these cases, the correct phrases would be 'the cup of tea' or 'a kilo of sugar', being 'cup' and 'kilo' the nouns you are using the articles with. Examples and further explanation on this can be found here.

However, if you'd like to use the, you can say 'the English language' but note that you are using the word as an adjective rather than a noun here, and that 'the' is referring to 'language' rather than to 'English'.

To particularly answer your question, the correct option is "Do you understand English?" and both of the others are wrong.

Hope this clarifies things for you.

matias
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  • What about "the rain" and "the soil" and "the water"?- I don't see any problem with "the tea". – Cardinal Oct 12 '16 at 20:10
  • In those cases, you're referring to specifics. When you say the soil, you're referring to a certain soil, be it the soil you poured this morning in a hole your dog made in your backyard, for example. It is correct to say 'the tea' if you're saying 'I drank all of the tea you poured in my cup'. However, my examples were talking about these things the same way we refer to English, as an abstract concept rather than specific body of mass. – matias Oct 12 '16 at 20:25
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    An exception might be noted for such expressions as I understand the English in this book. – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Oct 12 '16 at 20:30
  • @P.E.Dant when you say that, aren't you saying you understand the specific english phrases and idioms written in that book, which demonstrates you have a certain level of understanding of the English language, rather than talking about the language itself? Doesn't that fall under the point I made before? I mean it is correct to say that, but are you still talking about English as a language in general, which is what the asker asked? Not to be stubborn here, just asking. – matias Oct 12 '16 at 20:39
  • I was making this point that your answer requires more explanation. - "he disappeared in the fog", that fog is not mentioned earlier [anywhere in the discussion, passage or whatever]. In brief, it's simply that your sentence "You can't use an or the, which are articles used to refer to quantities (1)" strikes me as wrong. – Cardinal Oct 12 '16 at 20:39
  • @Cardinal you're not quite getting my point: even if the fog was never talked about before, when you use 'the' to refer to it you're implying he is at a certain time in a certain place where there is a certain fog, which is there and nowhere else, into which he disappears. – matias Oct 12 '16 at 20:45
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    @matias I wasn't sure at all, so I used the ol' reliable might, but I now realize that in a sentence like: I understand the English in "Heart of Darkness", but not in "Gravity" the reference is to a specific example of writing, as in "put three lumps in the tea." So, QED. – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Oct 12 '16 at 20:47
  • By interjecting the "earlier-discussed" things, I was to mention another gap in your answer. I don't want to nitpick, but I just wanted to say: hey man, you need add something to your answer. – Cardinal Oct 12 '16 at 20:51
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    @Cardinal giving it another read, the last part also struck me as wrong. I edited that part of my answer. Thanks for noticing. – matias Oct 12 '16 at 20:53
  • Most non-count nouns can be used as count nouns when referring to a particular example or variety, as when referring to the Englishes of the settlers. Do you understand the English? can be inquiring about words as opposed to symbols on a sign, for example, or about the English text when there are multiple languages presented. Your answer is too sweeping considering the lack of original context. – choster Oct 12 '16 at 21:35
  • @choster my answer is not universal, nor wants to be; I clarified in the beginning I was talking about the language itself. I will now edit it further and say English language as an abstract. Thank you for your input. – matias Oct 12 '16 at 21:45
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    We had a question a while back about "an impeccable English" (like er spricht ein fehlerloses Deutsch). It is possible to use "an English" or "the English" to refer to an idiolect or sociolect or dialect, and in that sense English can be broken into multiple Englishes, licensing the article. – TimR Oct 12 '16 at 22:43