Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

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cjareck
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Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby cjareck » Sun Oct 14, 2018 10:29 am

Since we do not have the definite and indefinite articles in Slavic languages, the whole concept was always difficult for me to understand and to remember. Nevertheless, after a long struggle, I think I have mastered the basics ;) No I am preparing flashcards for my girls to school, and there is the following sentence:
"It isn't teddy bear' at first I thought that it is a mistake and it simply lacks an article "a". But also Grammarly didn't notice any errors in the sentence. The sentence "It isn't a teddy bear" was also marked as correct.
We surely have an indefinite singular noun. The context is simple - "What is your favourite thing?" Then "It isn't a computer, It isn't teddy bear."
Can anybody explain why the article "a" is in unnecessary in case of a teddy bear?
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby DaveAgain » Sun Oct 14, 2018 10:41 am

cjareck wrote:We surely have an indefinite singular noun. The context is simple - "What is your favourite thing?" Then "It isn't a computer, It isn't teddy bear."
Can anybody explain why the article "a" is in unnecessary in case of a teddy bear?
In this example Teddy Bear could be considered a name.

A child can have a teddy bear (generic name for that stuffed animal), but the child might also use that as the toy's name. So Teddy Bear can be both a generic name for all teddy bears, and an individual name for that particular stuffed animal.
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby cjareck » Sun Oct 14, 2018 10:49 am

DaveAgain wrote:
cjareck wrote:A child can have a teddy bear (generic name for that stuffed animal), but the child might also use that as the toy's name.

Thanks for a quick reply! The sentence isn't written, but there is a picture where "teddy bear" is written with small letters. Does your explanation apply even then? In Polish, we would distinct a generic name from toy's name by using capital letters in the second case.
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby Speakeasy » Sun Oct 14, 2018 11:03 am

Perhaps you could provide a little more information. For example, is "It isn't teddy bear" a quote from a story for small children wherein a child has personified her toy and named it "Teddy Bear"? In this case, as the toy (a teddy bear) has been given the name Teddy Bear -- just as it could have been given any other name (John, Sheila, Fluffy, Winnie, ...) -- the sentence "It isn't Teddy Bear" would be correct. Otherwise, I would assume that it is an error.
Last edited by Speakeasy on Sun Oct 14, 2018 11:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby Speakeasy » Sun Oct 14, 2018 11:08 am

While I was composing my answer, DaveAgain beat me to the punch. To answer cjareck's second question, my understanding of English use of capitalisation would be that the lower case "teddy bear" would be a noun whereas the upper case "Teddy Bear" would be a given name (all other considerations put aside such as capitalisation in titles, et cetera.
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby cjareck » Sun Oct 14, 2018 11:18 am

Probably that is the case. There is only a picture with some things pictured and described as follows "scooter", "computer" and "teddy bear". The audio has no script and goes like this:
- What's your favourite thing?
- Hmm. It isn't a computer. It isn't Teddy Bear*. Hmm. My favourite toy is big. And it's blue. It's a scooter!

* I suppose it should be written in capital letters as a given name but, as I said before, there is no script for this audio.

(edit)
But Grammarly doesn't want any article even if it is written with small letters. It seems that the sentence
"It isn't teddy bear,"
is correct as well as
"It isn't a teddy bear".
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby dampingwire » Sun Oct 14, 2018 11:45 am

cjareck wrote:No I am preparing flashcards for my girls to school, and there is the following sentence:
"It isn't teddy bear' at first I thought that it is a mistake and it simply lacks an article "a". But also Grammarly didn't notice any errors in the sentence.


I've never liked the Grammarly adverts that pop up on youtube, now I feel vindicated :-)

The sentence as written might be correct in some rather odd circumstances. The suggestion that 'teddy bear' might be a name is a good one but in that case you'd expect it to have been written "Teddy Bear", in capitals. 99% of the time that sentence, absent other context, would be a mistake and to be correct would need, as you suggest, an indefinite article.
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby cjareck » Sun Oct 14, 2018 12:00 pm

I would like to thank everyone for his or her effort. I understand what is going on with the sentence ;)
dampingwire wrote:I've never liked the Grammarly adverts that pop up on youtube, now I feel vindicated :-)

Grammarly was recommended to me some time ago. It corrects basic errors in the free version. But, since I was glad about the program, I decided to buy a full version. It is really helpful for me, as it reduces the number of my mistakes. Unfortunately not all of them, but this is a place for self-development ;)
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby Henkkles » Sun Oct 14, 2018 1:01 pm

cjareck wrote:Since we do not have the definite and indefinite articles in Slavic languages

I know this is not exactly relevant to the thread, but I just had to come in and correct this. The eastern group of South Slavic languages has definite articles that are postfixed. It's a Sprachbund feature, and is also present in Romanian.
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Re: Why "It isn't teddy bear" is correct?

Postby StringerBell » Sun Oct 14, 2018 5:02 pm

I agree that except for the extremely specific situation where "Teddy Bear" is the name of the item, this is just a mistake and it should be "a teddy bear".
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