English language has three articles, 'a, an, and the'. We were taught usage of articles quite early in school, and I had never thought there would be anyone who would have any problems with articles, especially of psychiatric nature. I was wrong. I met a man long ago, and continue to meet him even now. He suffers from a peculiar psychiatric condition that has not been described before. Bad usage of articles would be quite possible if the person was not educated well. But it would not apply to a person with an MD degree and the job of a Professor and sometimes even a fill-in Dean.
'No article before a proper noun' my teacher had said and that was that. Perhaps his teacher did not say that. When he would refer to me as 'the' Parulekar, I would think of my school teacher. When he would do that to every name and surname he uttered, I would be glad my teacher was not around to feel upset (upset would be too mild a word to describe my teacher's feelings). I diagnosed his psychiatric fixation on 'the' when I realized that he never used the other articles in a similar manner. There never was 'a' Parulekar and 'an' Agashe. (Note: for people on the net who do not know Indian names and surnames - Parulekar and Agashe are surnames, or what others call second names in India.)
He asked the following question to a candidate during an interview to select a person for a job in the civic hospitals.
"What the form you the fill?"
The candidate became blank, the other interviewers who were paying attention somehow managed to keep straight faces, and those who were not paying attention deserved what they got - or rather did not get - free entertainment. I was paying attention. But I was not entertained. I got happiness because this question confirmed this was a fixation with 'the' rather than bad grammar.
'No article before a proper noun' my teacher had said and that was that. Perhaps his teacher did not say that. When he would refer to me as 'the' Parulekar, I would think of my school teacher. When he would do that to every name and surname he uttered, I would be glad my teacher was not around to feel upset (upset would be too mild a word to describe my teacher's feelings). I diagnosed his psychiatric fixation on 'the' when I realized that he never used the other articles in a similar manner. There never was 'a' Parulekar and 'an' Agashe. (Note: for people on the net who do not know Indian names and surnames - Parulekar and Agashe are surnames, or what others call second names in India.)
He asked the following question to a candidate during an interview to select a person for a job in the civic hospitals.
"What the form you the fill?"
The candidate became blank, the other interviewers who were paying attention somehow managed to keep straight faces, and those who were not paying attention deserved what they got - or rather did not get - free entertainment. I was paying attention. But I was not entertained. I got happiness because this question confirmed this was a fixation with 'the' rather than bad grammar.
