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I read this passage:

The law on unfitness to plead addresses what should happen when a defendant facing criminal prosecution is unable to engage with the process because of his or her mental or physical condition. If such a defendant is found “unfit to plead”, there is not a trial in the usual way but the court adopts a different process to decide whether the defendant carried out the act in question. If it is found that they did, the court may order detention in a hospital or supervision in the community.

The legal test used to decide whether a defendant is “unfit to plead” dates from 1836 when the science of psychiatry was in its infancy. Clearly, it does not adequately reflect advances in modern psychiatric and psychological thinking.

Why the writer says The legal test .. although he just mentions "the legal test" for the first time in his passage ?

I mean he had to say a legal test used .... then after that he would say the legal test.

Or does that mean he mentioned the legal test before ??

CowperKettle
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Gamal Thomas
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  • It doesn't necessarily mean the test was mentioned before. Related: Uses of the definite article (the) in generic noun phrases. – J.R. May 07 '16 at 09:44
  • Thank you its much better now to understand articles , and I think that the legal test here most likely equals the unique legal test ? Right ? – Gamal Thomas May 07 '16 at 09:53
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    @J.R. - are you sure that it's a generic phrase? The author may be referring to some 'test' that is well-known in the legal world. I wanted to slap the 'generic-noun-phrase' tag on the question, but then abstained. – CowperKettle May 07 '16 at 10:10
  • The legal test as distinct from the test the medical profession, say, might use. Or Aunt Martha. – TimR May 07 '16 at 11:47
  • It's not a generic noun phrase @J.R. et al. One can't use a generic legal test in court any more than one can milk a generic cow in one's barn. – Alan Carmack May 07 '16 at 14:12
  • @Cowper & Carmack - I didn't say it was a generic noun phrase. I simply meant to point out that the definite article is used for reasons other than "previously mentioned." (My answer at that question provides a few different examples.) – J.R. May 07 '16 at 19:50
  • Gamal, in this passage The law on unfitness to plead is also a "first mention", as are the process and the court, yet you don't mention or ask about them. Is there any difference in your way of thinking about any of these, as compared to the legal test? – Alan Carmack May 07 '16 at 23:31
  • Good question, and I would tell that "the legal test" concept itself not just the word the seems suddenly introduced into the passage . The passage was running about the law of unfitness and how this law applys in the court and so on, then suddenly the passage began to speak about something I do not know (the legal test) in a new paragraph. – Gamal Thomas May 08 '16 at 03:32
  • But concerning your question why I did not notice the other thes, my answer is I just felt ok with The law on unfitness since the sentence said "on unfitness" it specified the law. The process also seems ok because it speaks about a specific process but the court seems difficult because the passage do not speak about a specific court. But when I translated this sentence with the court into my mind it runs like my mother tongue language with the this maybe the reason I did not got notice of its problem. and I think this reason is responsible for many mistakes. – Gamal Thomas May 08 '16 at 03:41

3 Answers3

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The author uses

the legal test used to decide ...

because there is only one legal test used to decide whether a defendant is "unfit to plead";

a legal test used to decide ...

would imply that there was more than one such test. This is essentially the same reason that you use the in the President of the United States and the moon, even when this is the first time these are mentioned.

Peter Shor
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No, he means "the" because the use contains a (reduced) defining (or restrictive) relative clause.

The legal test used to decide ...

is exactly equivalent to

The legal test which is used to decide ...

In a use like this, where the relative clause specifies the thing being mentioned, "the" is normal, because the item is being specified as it is used.

Compare

The man I saw yesterday ...

Contrast this with a case where the relative clause (or reduced relative clase) is a non-restrictive one, which in English is in a separate breath group, and so set off in writing with a comma:

The legal test, [which is] used to determine ....

The man, who I saw yesterday ...

These examples are incoherent unless the test, and the man, have already been introduced.

Colin Fine
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  • What is the difference between The man I saw yesterday is ... and ... A man I saw yesterday is ...? Can you give more examples to differentiate between sentences have relative clauses that specified the thing being mentioned where "the" is normal and those sentences that have also relative clauses but do not specify a thing mentioned ? Thank you – Gamal Thomas May 07 '16 at 14:58
  • Good question, @GamalThomas. "A man I saw yesterday" is grammatical and I'm struggling to express the difference in meaning from "The man I saw yesterday"; but I do feel that there is a difference. "A man I saw yesterday" is not specific - he is being introduced to the discourse (and could be referred to as "the man" subsequently; but though he is characterised as somebody I saw yesterday, he is not being defined that way - I probably saw many people yesterday, and he is just one of them. "The man I saw yesterday" is being defined that way, (even though I probably saw other men). – Colin Fine May 07 '16 at 19:19
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The writer uses the legal test because he is identifying which one he is talking about at the same time that he first mentions it. It is not any legal test, it is the one that dates from 1836 when the science of psychiatry was in its infancy. This is the salient and only necessary reason that allows for the usage of the definite noun phrase here.

In addition, however, the legal test is felicitous because the writer can assume that his readers know that a definite legal test is part of the context of the law and legal precedings–just like a writer can assume that his readers know that a definite air traffic control tower is part of the context of airplanes and airports.

Alan Carmack
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