Monica Gaidos wrote:
>    1. The tiger is in danger of becoming extinct.
>    2. Tigers are in danger of becoming extinct.
>  BUT ONE CANNOT--Or Should NOT--SAY:
>    3. A tiger is in danger of becoming extinct.
>  I just cannot seem to perceive the ungrammaticality of the third
sentence. Why is it ungrammatical--really? Can anyone help me with this one?
>
 
The problem is that *A tiger* simply means one (and only one) tiger, not all
tigers. *The tiger* means the entire species called 'tiger'. Obviously, a
single member of a species cannot be in danger of extinction, for this
definition of extinction refers to an entire species or genus, not a single
animal.  It seems more of a semantic than a syntactical problem.
 
Paul E. Doniger - ELI;Univ. of Bridgeport
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