what in a name?
Here's another environment where the presence (and the nature) of an adjective influences the projection of a definite article:
The following quotes come from Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë:
p. 165: the charitable Miss Murray
p. 174: poor Mark
p. 186: poor Mark Wood
p. 189 the thoughtless Miss Murray
These are not restrictive modification constructions like:
The little Mary I used to know...
A few more examples:
What did the little Mary say to that? (from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott)
The play began as usual with the little Mary and the little Joseph making their entrance into Bethlehem...
The first apparent generalization would seem to be that adjectives that are acceptable in vocatives (poor, dear) allow the omission of the article. The same is true for French, by the way, where the article is generally obligatory in vocatives.
And here are some examples with the adjective French (normally very strange). Only the first example below is that of genuine non-restrictive modification.
1538 James V of Scotland marries the French Mary of Guise
If I win I am the French Mary Pierce.
The French Mary was very sophisticated, the African one was exuberant, the one from the United States looked like a Borg...
Juliette Binoche, who played the French Mary Poppins
Speaking of French, post-nominal adjectives are totally unacceptable in this construction.
The following quotes come from Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë:
p. 165: the charitable Miss Murray
p. 174: poor Mark
p. 186: poor Mark Wood
p. 189 the thoughtless Miss Murray
These are not restrictive modification constructions like:
The little Mary I used to know...
A few more examples:
What did the little Mary say to that? (from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott)
The play began as usual with the little Mary and the little Joseph making their entrance into Bethlehem...
The first apparent generalization would seem to be that adjectives that are acceptable in vocatives (poor, dear) allow the omission of the article. The same is true for French, by the way, where the article is generally obligatory in vocatives.
And here are some examples with the adjective French (normally very strange). Only the first example below is that of genuine non-restrictive modification.
1538 James V of Scotland marries the French Mary of Guise
If I win I am the French Mary Pierce.
The French Mary was very sophisticated, the African one was exuberant, the one from the United States looked like a Borg...
Juliette Binoche, who played the French Mary Poppins
Speaking of French, post-nominal adjectives are totally unacceptable in this construction.
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aggravated
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