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If you are the art I'll be the brush.

"The" is used for definite and specific things, so shouldn't it be

If you are an art I'll be the brush,

or

If you are an art I'll be a brush,

or

If you are an art I'll be your brush?

  • You need to edit this to make a reasonable question. Use capital letters and punctuation. Give a clear source of your sentence. As it stands, the sentence is odd. I could guess at what it means, but I don't want to speculate. – James K Sep 08 '17 at 15:51
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    Looks like another case of Definite Article Meaning Syndrome; read my answer here and see if that doesn't help you out. – J.R. Sep 08 '17 at 15:52
  • but the is used for definite and specific things.. it sounds like the art which might have been discussed before –  Sep 08 '17 at 16:49
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    @user236989 Yes, as with any language, English is more complicated than your textbook explains. There are many nuanced uses of the definite article. Your textbook isn't wrong, but it's not complete. That's why we're here! – Andrew Sep 08 '17 at 16:53
  • Did you read the answer I linked to? You say, "the is used for definite and specific things;" my answer explains that, "the is also used to make general references to something." Therefore, "I'll be the brush" can refer to some generic, hypothetical brush, not just a definite and specific brush. As another example, when we say, "The lion is the king of the jungle," we are not talking about any specific lion, jungle, or king. – J.R. Sep 08 '17 at 17:49
  • what about this sentence 'bring out the notebook' it means the specific notebook. not a generic or definite one –  Sep 09 '17 at 06:56
  • @user236989 - Words aren’t limited to one usage or meaning. It’s that simple. “Bring out the notebook” probably means bring out a particular notebook. “Linda plays the violin” most likely refers to violins in a general sense, not a particular violin. – J.R. Sep 09 '17 at 23:02
  • Shouldn't it be she plays violin. Articles isn't even required there -_- –  Sep 10 '17 at 06:03
  • Article not required ≠ Article is wrong if it’s there. Check out the ngram; it’s idiomatic to include it. – J.R. Sep 10 '17 at 09:02

2 Answers2

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The first point is that you can't use "an art" in that way - the phrase does exist, but it has special meanings, either "an artistic field of activity" (such as painting or sculpture) or "a special skill" (as in "there is an art to writing"). For the sense you mean, you would need "a piece of art" or "an artwork".

But, to address your question: this is poetic language*, which doesn't necessarily follow the usual rules of syntax. In ordinary speech, I can just about imagine somebody saying "If you're a painting, I'm a brush" (though it's not very likely). But this form "If you're the painting, I'm the brush" is definitely poetic. In the love duet in Iolanthe, W. S. Gilbert wrote:

Thou the tree, and I the flower;

Thou the idol, I the throng -

Thou the day and I the hour -

Thou the singer; I the song!

I suppose you can justify it by saying something like "In the imaginary scene that I am referring to, you are the art and I'll be the brush", where the definite article is identifying the things supposed to be there in the imaginary scene. But I think you're better just accepting that it is a poetic form of words.

(Actually, now I think of it, the use of the art in this way to mean the painting that is being worked on is poetic as well, and wouldn't normally happen).

Edit: *FumbleFingers points out that this is effectively a poetic idiom, where the definite article is normal.

Colin Fine
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  • I don't think you explicitly make the point in your text above, but the basic construction embodied in things like he the X (and) she the Y is pretty much a "(poetic) set form" where the *definite* article (and "deletion" of [TO BE] elements and the word *and* itself) has become idiomatically established over centuries. Usually there's no grammatical reason to prefer *the* over *a/an* - but the former makes things more "immediate" (*a* thing might be anywhere; *the* thing is usually *here*). – FumbleFingers Sep 08 '17 at 17:05
  • +1. Excellent analogue with the W.S. Gilbert, but I think the "it's poetic language so we shouldn't look too closely at it to figure out how it conveys an idea" addendum is a cop-out. – TimR Sep 08 '17 at 19:14
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I like Colin Fine's answer, but the way the definite article works in a "you be the X and I'll be the Y" construction is actually quite simple. The definite article isn't poetic. It's the particular pairings that are poetic in the W. S. Gilbert lyric.

The definite article identifies the nouns as the ones we expect to be there in a known or familiar duo.

You are the salt and I am the pepper.

You be the cat. I'll be the fiddle.

If you're the hammer, I'm the nail.

When my son was little there was a TV show called Flipper (in reruns), about a smart dolphin, sort of a seagoing Lassie. There was a father who was a game warden in the Florida Everglades, his two sons, and the dolphin. One of the sons was named "Bud". My son wanted me to play a Flipper game with him one day, pretending to have similar lives and concerns. He said You be the dad and I'll be the Bud.

TimR
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