I cannot understand what is wrong with "on the page 8"? My instructor claims that it is "on page 8". It is a specific page to which I referring to on a particular book. What is wrong with "the" in front of "page 777"?
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4Interesting. 'On the page numbered 8' sounds OK but weird. 'On the page 8' sounds wrong. 'On the eighth page' is almost normal. I have never thought about it before though.– Kit Z. Fox ♦Commented Feb 20, 2014 at 0:43
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1 Answer
I'd say it's because, when referring to the page by it's number, the number is essentially the "name" of the page. In that sense, you wouldn't refer to someone named John as "The John".
Conversely, when it's "the 7th page", you're referring to a page at a specific position, rather than referring to it by "name" ("the guy over there", rather than "John").
Hopefully that's helpful to you.
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Actually it makes now more sense to me, consider it as a name, good one! +1– hhhCommented Feb 20, 2014 at 0:55
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1Brilliantly well stated and succinct! I wish I could give +12 for this one!– David MCommented Feb 20, 2014 at 2:23
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1"where is main street" vs "where is the main street" Commented Feb 20, 2014 at 6:23