Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Anathema? Update

Does anyone know why the noun "anathema" never has an article in front of it?

"My conservative views are anathema to my liberal friends."

instead of

"My conservative views are an anathema to my liberal friends."

Update: I may not know anything about predicate nominatives, but the folks at Princeton don't seem to have any difficulty using an indefinite article:

"he is an anathema to me"

4 comments:

Michael said...

Because it's a predicate nominative.

Scooter said...

This is embarrassing; now I have to refresh my recollection on what the heck that even is.

Michael said...

I don't know what it is either, just read it out of the dictionary.

Scooter said...

See update. The Princeton site seems to allow for an article.