the or not

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Tukanja
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the or not

Post by Tukanja »

Would someone help me about this sentence

I'm sorry I'm late. I was held up by traffic.

Do we need the definite article the in the sentence?

I'm sorry I am late. I was held up by the traffic.

Thanks
ETutor
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Re: the or not

Post by ETutor »

You should not use the article in the sentence the way you have it written because you are referring to traffic in a general rather than specific sense. If, however, you phrased it this way: “I was held up by the traffic on Elm Street”, you could use the article. However, the article can be omitted in this sentence as well, making it: “I was held up by traffic on Elm Street”. It is tricky to know when to use the article, so in most cases, you can leave it out.
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phrasemix
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Re: the or not

Post by phrasemix »

Tukanja,
One of the reason articles are tricky is because they're all about what the person you're speaking to knows. Using "the" is like saying, "I know that you know about this." So "I was held up by the traffic" is perfectly OK if:

- you already told the person you're speaking to about the traffic on the phone earlier
- the area of the city you're in always has traffic, and everyone knows about that
- you heard someone near to the listener talking about traffic, so you're sure that he or she already has heard of the traffic

... and so on. If not, "held up by traffic" is the standard way to say it.
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