Oh dear, maybe I should stop (guest)writing for LanguageRules! One of my required corrections (minor amendments re: my PhD thesis) is the following:
Page 16, line 3, should read ‘new media’, not ‘the new media’. The use of such prepositions before ‘media’ and other nouns should be reviewed throughout the thesis. Example, p. 71 ‘the TV’, ‘the magazine’, p. 76 ‘the telephone’, p. 94 ‘the tv’
Deary me! This is exactly the same problem that automatthias had when writing his MSc thesis, and in fact I corrected many such instances in his writing. Either I was wrong all along or some of these instances are simply incorrect. One problem with ‘the/a/0’ is that, the more you think about it, the less you know what is in fact right and what is wrong. It all gets confuddled in the head.
What I might do is blog about this on LanguageRules – maybe some of the guys there can point me to some exercises to help me deal with the bl00dy ‘the/a/0’ dilemma.
BTW: automatthias has now left Poland for pastures new. He’s landed in Dublin and is starting a new job on Monday! One got away 😀
How to be Happy 
Could you resolve the ‘the/a/0’ riddle for me – what does that stand for?
For your reviewer with compliments: ‘the’ isn’t a preposition (before, after during, etc. are prepositions), isn’t a definite article.
But it’s true, the question of when and when not to use the definite article in English is a tricky one for non-natives.
typo: ‘the’ IS a definite article.
it’s supposed to mean ‘the/a/0’, the latter one is a ‘zero’ (as in: nothing. Leerstelle). I.e. sometimes you don’t use any article whatsoever.
I put ‘the slash a slash zero slash’ to denote that those are the three choices as far as I know 🙂
I realise it’s not called a preposition but that’s what the examiner put on the corrections sheet!! I can’t Adam and Eve* it 😉
* Cockney rhyming slang.
Alright, another phrase that needs translation;-)
I can’t Adam and Eve it?
P.S.: I knew you knew, just wanted to point the examiner’s ignorance.
Adam and Eve = believe
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A649
I’ve commented on your LanguageRules! post: http://languagerules.wordpress.com/2007/01/10/language-problems-articles-theaomission/#comments
P.S.
Let’s get the Jack and Jill, then hit the frog and toad.
A: I can’t find it.
B: Did you even have a butcher’s hook? [Or, in the antipodes: “…a Captain Cook?”]
hehe. Thanks for your comments on LanguageRules! I’ve replied in detail – have a butcher’s 😛 . I think your comment re: metonymy has helped a fair bit. I’ve only got till the 2nd March with my final corrections and the article issue is one that I hadn’t anticipated. It’s taking up a lot of bloody time!