taxons and orthography

[Ken Kinman]

     If I were talking about Rosaceae in general, I would
say "Rosaceae are", but if I was talking about members in a
particular region (for example), I would say "The Rosaceae
of Canada are".  Just as you would say "People are funny",
but when being more specific you would say "The people of
Antarctica are funny."
    If you said "The people are funny", one might wonder
what people you were referring to.
                       -----  Ken Kinman
P.S.  BTW, if you used the preposition "in" rather than
"of", you could get by either with or without the article:
"People in Antarctica are funny" or "The people in
Antarctica are funny".
*********************************************************
>From: "Susan B. Farmer" <sfarmer at GOLDSWORD.COM>
>Reply-To: "Susan B. Farmer" <sfarmer at GOLDSWORD.COM>
>To: TAXACOM at USOBI.ORG
>Subject: Re: taxons and orthography
>Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 17:25:40 -0500
>
>But one part of the gentleman's question hasn't been
answered -- at least
>I don't think so (and it's one I'm currently struggling
with as well --
>and English *is* my native tongue).  Do family names take
an article?
>is it "Rosaceae are" or "The Rosaceae are"
>
>Thanks,
>Susan Farmer
>
>Susan Farmer
>sfarmer at goldsword.com
>Botany Department, University of Tennessee
>http://www.goldsword.com/sfarmer/Trilliu
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