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| 18779 | 'The' is a quantifier, like 'every' and 'a', and does not result in denotation |
| Full Idea: The expression 'The' turns out to play the role of a quantifier, in complete analogy with 'every' and 'a', and does not generate (in common with common noun phrases) denoting expressions | |||
| From: Richard Montague (English as a Formal Language [1970], p.216), quoted by Bernard Linsky - Quantification and Descriptions 4 | |||
| A reaction: Linsky says that it is now standard to interpret definite descriptions as quantifiers |