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Second Mention
Use "the", if the item is identified by second mention.
| FIRST MENTION "A" |
SECOND MENTION "THE" |
This is a piece of
a puzzle.

"A" because you are introducing the item. |
The piece fits into the top of a
puzzle.

"The" because the piece is already "introduced" or "identified" |
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Practice 1
Find the first and second mention in this paragraph.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A new government report on combating
crime on the Internet is winning broad industry support for concluding
that no significant new laws are needed to attack cyber crime. |
Attorney General Janet Reno released the inter-agency report Thursday at a Justice Department news conference,
where she was flanked by Commerce Secretary William Daley and a senior
attorney for America Online.
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| Frieden, Terry, CNN. "Administration
Report on Fighting Internet Crime Wins Broad Industry Support."
March 9, 2000; http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/03/09/internet.crime/index.html |
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Mentioned as a Synonym
Use "the", if the item is identified by another name (synonym).
FIRST MENTION "A"
This is a part of a puzzle.

Because a part means the same as a piece, |
SECOND MENTION "THE"
The piece fits into the top of a
puzzle.
mentioning "piece" is "second mention". |
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Practice 2
Find the noun mentioned by synonym in this paragraph.
Fire
in Tuvalu School Kills 18 Girls
A fire swept through
a dormitory at a high school in the South Pacific nation of Tuvalu,
killing 18 teen-age girls and a matron late Thursday.
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The blaze was believed
to have been caused by a student's candle which toppled over in the
sleeping quarters of Motufoua Secondary School. ("A blaze" means "a fire".)
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| CNN, "Fire in Tuvalu School Dormitory Kills 19",
March 10, 2000; http://www.cnn.com/2000/ASIANOW/australasia/03/09/tuvalu.fire.02/index.html |
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Mentioned in Part
Use "the", if the item is identified by being an expected part of an item you have already introduced.
FIRST MENTION "A"
Let's do a puzzle.

Because a puzzle is expected to have pieces |
SECOND MENTION "THE"
The
pieces of the puzzle are in the box.

mentioning "pieces" is considered second mention. . |
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Practice 3
Expected parts: If you mention "a
car", we already know its parts:
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Parts that all cars are expected to have:
- the tires
- the seats
- the doors
- the windows
- the fuel tank
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but not items which are optional features.
- the fog lamps
- the snow tires
- the convertible top
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Fill in the blank with an article. Then, check your answer.
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Culturally Identifiable
Use "the", if the item is identified by being an culturally expected part of an item you have already introduced.
Certain buildings are expected to exist in a town:
- Where's the police station?
- Where's the hospital?
- Where's fire station?
- Where's the library?
- Where's the airport?
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Certain people are expected to exist in a town:
- I have to go to the doctor
- Tell it to the judge
- Call the police (plural)
(Even though, today, there may be a hundred doctors
and several judges in the town. The expression is left over from earlier
times.) |
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Julie Sevastopoulos -
College of San Mateo - San Mateo, CA 94402 USA
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