Text 1890, 70 rader
Skriven 2007-06-18 08:42:06 av Ardith Hinton (1:153/716.0)
   Kommentar till text 1885 av Alexander Koryagin (alexko)
Ärende: at the school
=====================
Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to All:

AK>  Yesterday I read a book with grammar tests about articles.
AK>  I heard that [at school] you have to write without an
AK>  article. But when I check my answers I found something
AK>  different:


             I'd noticed that my Russian modem buddies often use articles where
a native speaker of English probably wouldn't.  I'm glad to see you're checking
such rules against what you've observed, though.  I think the same way....  ;-)



AK>  My aunt is [a] teacher. She works at [] school. [The]
AK>  school is good. My aunt is not at [the] school now.
AK>  What about last sentence ("at the school")? What if I
AK>  would say "My aunt is not at school now?"


          Adding to what Dallas said...

             I gather from the above that this individual is presently employed
as a teacher at, for example, Queen Elizabeth Elementary School.  By saying the
school is good you're referring to the school where she teaches.  If she wasn't
at school... or at the (aforementioned) school... at the time of writing, maybe
it's because she was ill or the school was closed for the weekend or something.



AK>  BTW - the phrase in quotations is not a question. It looks
AK>  like a question. Is it correct to put the question mark out
AK>  of quotes? Something like this: [ What if I would say "My
AK>  aunt is not at school now."? ]


          Editing verb tense here...

             What if I said "My aunt is not at school now(.)"?


             In American English, as I understand it, the quotation mark always
follows the end punctuation if a quotation is made at the end of a sentence.  I
was taught that way.  But as a Canadian I have the freedom to decide for myself
whether to use American or British conventions, and I find the British "rule of
common sense" more to my liking in this regard.  If the original quote does not
include a question mark it makes sense to locate your own question mark outside
the quotation mark as far as I am concerned.  That's what I'd do here.  I might
omit the period in the interest of simplicity.  OTOH, I might not... [chuckle].



AK>  What about last sentence ("at the school")?


            In this question your punctuation looks fine to me.  I would add an
article to it, though... "What about the last sentence (at the school)"?



AK>  It is funny but more logical. ;-)


            What's logical to one person may not be to another.  YMMV....  :-))




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)