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Post by Jen in NCal on May 9, 2019 5:00:34 GMT
Let's discuss the word impasse. It's a noun.
Should it require an article before it in sentence or not?
We have declared impasse.
We have declared an impasse.
We are at impasse.
We are at an impasse.
Which one? Or both?
We don't use an article for war. We are at war, not we are at a war. Same with victory.
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Post by LiLi on May 9, 2019 5:12:02 GMT
We are at an impasse. (noun)
We are at war. ( war is a verb in this sentence)
Same as victory, it can be a verb or a noun.
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Post by Delta Dawn on May 9, 2019 5:13:35 GMT
You may want to change the spelling of grammar, too. I will get flamed for this.
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Post by AussieMeg on May 9, 2019 8:09:03 GMT
I have only ever heard/read “at an impasse”
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Post by gillyp on May 9, 2019 8:13:37 GMT
I have only ever heard/read “at an impasse” Yes, this is how it is in my world. |
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Post by monklady123 on May 9, 2019 9:37:32 GMT
We are at an impasse. (noun) We are at war. ( war is a verb in this sentence) Same as victory, it can be a verb or a noun. This is the answer. Nouns vs. verbs. |
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jul 8, 2024 2:15:49 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2019 9:45:16 GMT
I have only ever heard/read “at an impasse”  |
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Post by nlwilkins on May 9, 2019 10:20:24 GMT
We are at an impasse. (noun) We are at war. ( war is a verb in this sentence) Same as victory, it can be a verb or a noun. I may be wrong, but isn't the word "war" in the second sentence a a predicate noun or rather the noun of a prepositional phrase that is acting like a predicte noun prefaced by the linking verb "are"? To the original post: I looked this up and looked and looked. Words that are synomons of impasse also use an article such as deadlock, stalemate, standstill. But, you can also use descriptors instead of articles such as: political impasse, obvious impasse or big impasse, seeming impasse. In the samples you gave, you kind of need the extra word in there because of the hard constanants before the vowel - say them a few times with and without the article and you will find the article serves as a bridge between the two. I suspect there is some grammar rule having to do with words beginning with a vowel that is involved. |
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Post by silverlining on May 9, 2019 11:38:19 GMT
All three are nouns-war, victory, impasse. A word that can follow an article or follow a preposition is a noun.
But, the OP's question is is the article (an) required? I don't think it's required, but in the original examples, I prefer it with the article. "at an impasse" or "declared an impasse"
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Post by christine58 on May 9, 2019 12:01:33 GMT
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Post by mollycoddle on May 9, 2019 12:08:18 GMT
All three are nouns-war, victory, impasse. A word that can follow an article or follow a preposition is a noun. But, the OP's question is is the article (an) required? I don't think it's required, but in the original examples, I prefer it with the article. "at an impasse" or "declared an impasse" That is what I have been taught. I have never seen impasse without an article preceding it. ETA: I was curious so I looked up sample sentences and found an example without an article: “"the current political impasse" I guess you’re never too old to learn!  |
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Post by silverlining on May 9, 2019 12:16:35 GMT
In the example above, the article is 'the'
The article can precede either a single noun (the impasse) or a noun phrase (the current political impasse)
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Post by librarylady on May 9, 2019 12:30:17 GMT
Bit of humor in that misspelling for me.
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Post by jennyap on May 9, 2019 12:33:10 GMT
All three are nouns-war, victory, impasse. A word that can follow an article or follow a preposition is a noun. But, the OP's question is is the article (an) required? I don't think it's required, but in the original examples, I prefer it with the article. "at an impasse" or "declared an impasse" That is what I have been taught. I have never seen impasse without an article preceding it. ETA: I was curious so I looked up sample sentences and found an example without an article: “" the current political impasse" I guess you’re never too old to learn! That still has an article  "at war" is a prepositional phrase that doesn't take an article unless the noun is modified. "victory" takes the zero article (ie none) when it is used as an abstract noun (cf happiness) As far as I know, impasse always needs an article. |
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Post by mollycoddle on May 9, 2019 12:35:45 GMT
That is what I have been taught. I have never seen impasse without an article preceding it. ETA: I was curious so I looked up sample sentences and found an example without an article: “" the current political impasse" I guess you’re never too old to learn! That still has an article "at war" is a prepositional phrase that doesn't take an article unless the noun is modified. "victory" takes the zero article (ie none) when it is used as an abstract noun (cf happiness) As far as I know, impasse always needs an article. Ha! Right! SOMEBODY needs more coffee! 😊 |
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