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I understand that

"Look on the table. Take the box of candies."

is ok. But is this ok?

"Take the box of the candies."

If so, is there any difference?

Edwin Ashworth
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Alexey Murzin
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  • @EdwinAshworth - It's not related. The only thing the questions have in common are the words 'box of'. That question is about whether 'a box of X' can be called empty since it has X in it. This question is about use of the definite article. – chasly - supports Monica Nov 08 '15 at 13:43
  • It's not a duplicate, but it's certainly related. The discussion there examined whether 'box of matches' implied matches being present; OP's question here about possible differences involves this argument. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 08 '15 at 13:53
  • @EdwinAshworth - If that were true then it could make for a very interesting and illuminating answer. However I don't see it. Even if the expression 'the box of the candies' worked in English, it would give no indication of whether there were any candies inside it at the time of speaking. Nevertheless, I'm still interested in your reasoning, could you explain further? – chasly - supports Monica Nov 08 '15 at 14:22

1 Answers1

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Take the box of the candies is a very unlikely thing to say in English. The only meaning I can ascribe to it is that there are several boxes on the table, and one of them has a kind of candy which we have already talked about, so we both know what candies I mean by "the candies", and I am directing you take that box, rather than any of the other boxes, which might have other candies or anything else.

But even then, I think I'm more likely to say Take the box with the candies.

In most cases, if I heard this I would assume it was said by somebody who was not an English speaker. The meaning that Frederic gives would not occur to me unless there was some very strong context suggesting it.

Colin Fine
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  • So in general the question was about "the after of". And I understand that "the after of" is rarely used. It "separates" second noun from first (or from other "first nouns"). – Alexey Murzin Nov 08 '15 at 13:01
  • There is no problem with 'of the'. For example: "here is the dinner, and I must beg of you to take the top of the table, because the dinner is of your providing." Great Expectations By Charles Dickens. http://www.victorianlondon.org/etexts/dickens/great_expectations-0022.shtml The phrase that causes the problem is, "the box of the candies". – chasly - supports Monica Nov 08 '15 at 13:33
  • @Colin - I agree with everything you say in this answer. However you haven't said why 'the box of the candies' doesn't work. The grammatical structure isn't forbidden -- see my comment immediately above. Do you have any thoughts on this? I'd be interested and it would definitely improve the answer. Thanks. – chasly - supports Monica Nov 08 '15 at 13:54
  • @chaslyfromUK. Good question. It turns on the kind of "of", for sure. If we were talking about some special candies, that came in their own craftsman-made box, then the box of the candies would be possible, though awkward. But I'm having trouble characterising it. – Colin Fine Nov 08 '15 at 16:07